 The very first Gay Pride Parade in Madrid was held in June 1979 nearly four years after the death of Spain's dictator Francisco Franco, with the gradual arrival of democracy and the de-criminalization of homosexuality.Since then, dozens of companies like Microsoft, Google and Schweppes and several political parties and trade unions, including Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, PODEMOS, United Left, Union, Progress and Democracy, CCOO and UGT have been sponsoring and supporting the parade.Madrid Pride Parade is the biggest gay demonstration in Europe, with more than 1.5 million attendees in 2009, according to the Spanish government.