Thousands of people gathered at the Manitoba Legislative Building in downtown Winnipeg to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pride Winnipeg. 

This year's theme was "Resurgence: Taking Back Space", which Pride Winnipeg President Jonathan Niemczak says is representative of the work that has been done and the work that still needs to be done. 

"We've come a long way in terms of the province," said Niemczak. "In 2012 when gender identity was added to the human rights code we were the second province to do that so we've taken a lot of leaps and bounds." 

Niemczak says Pride is a celebratory event but through community consultations they found that Winnipeg Pride wasn't being inclusive enough within the LGBTTQ community.

He says in the past 30 years most of the progress made has benefited lesbians and gays but left other parts of the community behind.

This is something he says has to change.  

"There's still lots to do and that fits into the theme of Resurgence," said Niemczack. "We really need to re-gear Pride. We need to go back and focus on the rest of that acronym - the BTTQ - and making sure we can get them to the same level of privileged lesbians and gays have reached because that's true equality and we're not totally there." 

Niemczak says as a country, Canada has made great strides and when he goes to international meetings with Pride organizers from different countries they are often envious of Canada. 

"We're currently debating in the senate to have gender identity added to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and there's a good chance it will go through this time," he said. "I think on a happiness scale our (LGBTTQ) community is the second happiest in the world, but again, there's still lots to do."