The largest gay pride parade in Eastern Europe is bringing thousands of people to the streets of Warsaw.

Saturday’s parade comes at a time when the LGBT rights movement in Poland is targeted by hate speech and a government campaign depicting it as a threat to families and society.

US and other western diplomats were expected to continue a recent tradition of joining the festive Equality Parade to show their support for what is considered a basic human right in many places. In a historic first, Warsaw’s own mayor will also join it.

While many Poles in Warsaw and other cities have increasingly grown supportive of gay rights, a backlash is also underway.

In recent months, officials from the right-wing ruling party have been portraying the LGBT rights movement, particularly calls for sex education stressing tolerance, as a threat to families and children.

Poland will have a record number of 20 pride parades this year. In some cases, even centrist and left-wing mayors have tried to ban them, usually citing security concerns.

Ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski recently called the LGBT rights movement a foreign import that threatens the nation’s identity. In conservative areas, town councils have been declaring their municipalities “LGBT free.”