INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Thousands of people have converged on Indianapolis for an annual parade celebrating the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community only months after a stinging debate over Indiana’s religious objections law.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard was grand marshal of Saturday’s Cadillac Barbie IN Pride Parade. He and his wife Winnie waved from the back of a streetcar to thousands of cheering people who lined the parade route.

The Republican mayor had spoken out against Indiana’s religious objections law, which critics called discriminatory against the LGBT community.

Organizers expected Saturday’s parade and other events to attract about 40,000 people, including several same-sex couples who wed at an on-site chapel.

Same-sex marriage became legal in Indiana in October under a U.S. Supreme Court decision that let stand two federal court rulings declaring Indiana’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional.