Gay pride parade festivities occurred all across the U.S. and the world this weekend, as laws continue to change regarding same-sex marriage and rights for homosexual couples.

Pride weekend was especially historic this year due to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Wednesday to overturn DOMA, allowing legally married same-sex couples to have the same federal benefits as heterosexual pairs, in essence striking down "Prop. 8." This also allowed for the legalization of gay marriage in California, NBC News writes.

New York, San Francisco and Chicago were cities rocked by rainbow colored flags and enthusiastic marchers. Parades in Paris, France, was especially historic, as citizens celebrated the one month anniversary of France's first gay marriage. LGBT groups and allies marched in Spain, Portugal and Mexico as well. Canada, Sweden, and Finland held parades on Sunday, according to NBC News.

Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also expressed her optimism on same-sex marriage on NBC'S "Meet the Press" Sunday morning, the NY Daily News reports.

When asked if she thinks same-sex marriage could be a nationwide right in five years, she responded: "I would certainly hope so. Course, I've been in this - shall we say - crusade for a long time. And to see the pace with which it has accelerated in the past few years is very encouraging. Let's hope it's even sooner than that."

"It's a matter of time. It's all about time," Pelosi said last year.

Pelosi also stressed that the recent change in laws shouldn't cause people to believe they will not be able to practice their religion and continue to hold their religious values in the U.S.

"We're talking about the state - what the state does and what the state recognizes," the congresswoman, who is publicly a Catholic, said. "People have a right to believe what they believe. But we are a country that professes not to discriminate and this is a discrimination."