99 Photos of the Pride of St. Louis

What became known as St. Louis Lesbian & Gay Pride Celebration Committee was born in 1979, but the first St. Louis Gay and Lesbian Pride Celebration didn’t occur until 1980. This event was sponsored by the Magnolia Committee – named for the street where the majority of the members lived and had their meetings. Now in 2017, the 37th annual Pride St Louis celebration had a three-day series of events.

With Pride celebrations sometimes comes controversy. A group that participated in Sunday's St. Louis Pride Parade has apologized and returned two awards it received after the public became aware it flew a "Blue Lives Matter" flag on its float. The inclusion of the flag was seen by many as an insult to Black Lives Matter, racial minorities, and a community still reeling from Michael Brown's killing in nearby Ferguson, Mo. Read more in Neal Broverman’s story on Advocate.com.

Thanks to the folks at The Vital Voice for organizing such great photos for us, and especially photographer Mark Moore of TakeMoorePics.com for taking the great photos here.