Before the devastating stabbings at Jerusalem’s Gay Pride March on Thursday marred the event, Israelis turned out for a celebration of LBGTQ rights.

These photos are of Bat Kol, a religious lesbian organization that NIF gave a special grant to in order to march at the rally.

President Reuven Rivlin said: “We came together today for a festive event, but the joy was shattered when a terrible hate crime occurred here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.”

The tragedy at the March illuminates the urgency for a more open, more tolerant, and more equal Israel.