MADISON (WKOW) -- Hundreds rallied in downtown Madison for LGBTQ rights Sunday.
The Equality March for Unity and Pride on Madison event started at UW's Library Mall and marched along state street to the Capitol building where members and supporters of the LGBTQ community held a rally with several guest speakers.
The event is to "show solidarity in the LGBTQ community and across other communities" in the fight for equal rights.
"We need to support [LGBTQ community], and we need to make it clear that we're not folding our rainbow tents and going home," said Kathleen Nichols, a gay rights activist for nearly five decades and a member of the LGBTQ community. "I think I can safely say, I've never missed a demonstration."
Nichols says she's a "living testament" that the fight for equal rights is a long journey.
In addition to the rally, many who attended held up signs of the 49 victims killed at the Pulse Nightclub shooting on June 12, 2016. A moment of silence was also held.
"I think it puts into perspective how many lives were lost," said Kaci Sullivan, founder of the Transliberation Art Coalition and a speaker at the event. "Equality matters, everyone is inherently equal and that there's work to do to get there, and that everybody is responsible for that work."
Other speakers included State Representative Chris Taylor, Congressman Mark Pocan, and Patrick Farabaugh of Our Lives Magazine.
For more on this story: http://www.wkow.com/story/35639319/2017/06/11/hundreds-of-lgbtq-supporters-rally-in-downtown-madison-for-the-equality-march-for-unity-and-pride