PORTLAND (AP) – The state senator who sponsored Maine’s gay marriage law was the star of the show in Portland on Saturday.

Sen. Dennis Damon was grand marshal of the Southern Maine Pride parade.

Participants carried a 900-foot-long rainbow flag that stretched for blocks as the parade moved from Monument Square to a festival in Deering Oaks Park, featuring speeches, entertainment and dancing.

Maine became the fifth state to allow gay marriage last month. Since then, New Hampshire adopted its own a gay marriage law.