Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of downtown Ottawa to celebrate sexual diversity on Sunday.

It was the 22nd annual pride parade in the Capital and people were in attendance from all over.

Luciano Porcelli and his family just happened to stumble across the festivities while visiting from Italy. "It's a free country you can celebrate whatever you want," said Porcelli.

At the heart of the party was increased acceptance for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. Carleton University's gay engineers were in attendance to show their support.

"We're not about advocacy," says engineering student Matt Gawlik. "We see it as a great opportunity to make ourselves visible."

At the head of the parade was Ottawa's own Amazon Dykes on Bikes. They led the parade from Lebreton flats, up along Wellington past Parliament Hill, and down Elgin towards City Hall.

"The energy this is going to create in the village is quite awesome," said Molly King one of the bikers leading the parade.

The buzz drew an estimated 35,000 and with all the excitement parade organizers expect to see those numbers grow in the coming years.