Gay groups were finally welcome at Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade on Sunday after as organizers had decided to lift a ban that had shut them out for decades, NBC News reported.

This year, the sponsoring South Boston Allied War Veterans Council invited Boston Pride, a local gay rights group, and OutVets, which honors lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender veterans, to join in the festivities. The council's current leaders had voted 5 to 4 in December to open the parade to the veterans organization and later also invited Boston Pride.

OutVets founder and leader Bryan Bishop, an Air Force veteran, pointed to the historic significance of that decision.

"We march today for the memories of those thousands and thousands of people who went before us, some who went to their graves in the closet," Bishop said.

Sixty-five-year-old David Story, a finance manager and Air Force veteran, told the New York Times that marching in the parade held real meaning to him, as well.

"To be included in this parade and be part of this parade is just really special for us," Story said. "We're marching not just for us, but for all the closeted (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people who have been in the Air Force, are in the military, for years past, and the ones that may be in now."

Sylvain Bruni, the president of Boston Pride, said the new policy was a testament to changing attitudes across the city, according to the Huffington Post.

"South Boston is more diverse than it's ever been, and our inclusion is a testament to change in the neighborhood," Bruni said.

The lack of inclusion of gay groups at Boston's St. Patrick's Day for years had been a political hot-button issue that led the city's mayors to boycott the event since 1995, NBC News recalled. That year, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council had taken its fight to exclude the organizations all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it prevailed on First Amendment grounds.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker this year recognized the council's change of heart and once again took part in the parade, according to the network.

"It's kind of moving on to a new chapter of Boston's history," Walsh told reporters, the New York Times noted.