Three days after the US Supreme Court issued a sweeping decision favoring gay rights, hundreds of thousands of gay people marched down New York's Fifth Avenue on Sunday in an exuberant, celebratory mood in the city's annual pride parade.

The midtown Manhattan parade, which commemorates a 1969 riot at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in which gays fought back against a police raid for the first time, was especially upbeat in the wake of the Court's decision.

On Thursday the Supreme Court struck down US sodomy laws by a 6-3 vote, ruling that gays are entitled to respect for their private lives.

Parade grand marshals and Broadway stars actress Cherry Jones and playwright Terrence McNally embraced the political nature of the event, with Jones holding aloft a copy of Friday's New York Times, which carried a banner headline on the Supreme Court decision, drawing cheers from the crowds.

"I haven't been to pride in several years," said Bob Merckel of Manhattan. "It had just gotten so political and really wasn't fun. But this is the most festive it's been in a really long time, and I'm glad I'm here," he said.

His partner of 11 years, Larry Black, added "Thank God they (the court) voted the way they did. Otherwise it would have been pretty ugly here."

The 34th Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender parade was led off by the so-called "Dykes on Bikes" -- dozens of lesbians riding motorcycles flying rainbow-colored gay pride flags down Fifth Avenue, which was painted with a ceremonial lavender stripe.

Other gay biker groups followed, along with scores of groups representing political, religious, ethnic, social and athletic groups.

Floats carrying scantily clad, muscled men, draq queens and Latin dancers passed by cheering throngs who packed the course of the five-hour parade. One blaring the old disco hit "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" seemed to typify the mood.

As in past years, politicians turned out to support what has become a key voting bloc. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, US Sen. and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer and state comptroller Alan Hevesi were among the politicians who joined the march.

Earlier, a wedding ceremony was held for couples who wanted to exchange commitment vows. Canada recently decided to allow gay men and lesbian couples to marry, and judging by the signs and mood at the march, many seemed to feel that marriage rights were the next big obstacle for the US gay movement. 

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