MADISON (WKOW) — Hundreds flooded State St. and surrounded the state capitol as Madison’s pride weekend concluded with its biggest events, the pride parade and festival.

Controversy surrounded the event after the organizers, OutReach LGBT Community Center, announced just more than a week ahead of the parade, police and other local uniformed officers would no longer be invited to march. The board voted to rescind the invitations after community members expressed concerns armed officers made LGBT people of color feel unwelcome and fearful.

The decision proved controversial among members of the LGBT community and the board held a listening session on Monday but stood by their decision to keep police out of the parade.

For some participants like Jerome Holliday, it was a dark cloud hanging over Sunday’s events.

"We had a fault there," he said of the OutReach decision.

As a member of the Madison queer community for decades, he said he always felt support from the Madison Police and hopes they’ll be back next year.

"I want to make sure that I let myself and the Madison police department know, they are very welcome and we are very proud of them," he said.

Other marchers, like Sami Shalk said she supported the decision. The Gender and Women’s Studies professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said she often feels unwelcome around police and without their presence she said she felt more welcome.

"There was one white male individual who was shouting haters at us," she said. "Other than that, everyone seemed very supportive, cheered as we walked by," she said.

Others in the queer community said they had a difficult time understanding where this decision came from. Cass Marie said she was initially angry when she found out about the decision. She said her first thought was her friend, a police sergeant who identified as queer and died this past week.

"That was just kind of put on top of her loss and I kinda felt like the people on her force and her family and her wife were denied an opportunity to celebrate who she was and what she stood for," she said.

She said she was considering skipping pride this year but decided to hear the other side out at Monday’s listening session. Marie said that changed her mind.

Organizers said the conversation surrounding this decision is far from over and they expect it to come up before next year’s pride. Marie said she’s looking forward to participating in that conversation again but hopes next year OutReach hears from the whole community before coming to a decision.

"That’s the message I try to practice and live by," she said. "If I want tolerance, love and compassion, I need to be that for other people as well."