Philadelphia’s 18^th annual Equality Forum, is expected to draw more than 50,000 participants in support of international gay rights.

According to Philly.com, the Equality Forum, which started in 1993 as PrideFest Philadelphia, has expanded from a weekend event with 15 participating organizations to a weeklong GLBT summit featuring more than 50 panels, parties and performances.

“It’s the global GLBT summit,” said executive director Malcolm Lazin to Philly.com. “There’s really no larger event. I think [Philadelphia] is a logical site because it’s where the original gay and lesbian movements began. We are the civil rights movement du jour, as much as the civil rights movement of the ‘60s and into the ‘70s was certainly the African American movement. Civil rights movements go nowhere unless they enlist the support of the mainstream.”

To read more on this story, visit Philly.com.