This year’s New York gay parade received unprecedented support from various Christian, Jewish and Buddhist religious organizations that expressed their tolerant convictions.

Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of New York City's Congregation Beth Simchat Torah said: “We stand for a progressive religious voice. Those who use religion to advocate an anti-gay agenda, I believe, are blaspheming God's name.”

Kleinbaum’s synagogue is the largest predominantly gay one in the world. He and Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, were this year’s grand marshals for the NYC parade.

Kleinbaum expressed hi optimism regarding the bill legalizing same-sex marriage, which the New York State Assembly passed just days before the parade took place. “This is one very important step toward full equality for all New Yorkers,” Kleinbaum said.

Dignity, a gay Catholic group, added their own float and rainbow flag. “We see that the opinion of ordinary Catholics is changing,” Jeff Stone, secretary of the New York chapter, said. Eventually what happens at the grass roots percolates up in the church.”

Another religious group, this time Buddhist, carried signs saying “Construct Dignity in Your Heart” and “Don’t Block Your Buddha.”

The religious organizations were placed near the very head of the march and followed by AIDS service groups and political advocacy groups, for the first time ever since the gay pride parades started in 1969.