Members of New York City's Latino Pride Center will join together this weekend for the city's gay pride parade under the slogan "Diversity is our strength -- We are One."

The group, which is associated with the Hispanic AIDS Forum and aims to empower gay Latinos, will have a significant presence at Sunday's parade thanks to a banner, float and sound system with Latino music. This is the second year the group will march under the name of the new pride center after decades of celebrations with the Hispanic AIDS Forum.

"The Hispanic AIDS forum started early on in the epidemic in 1985, and its mission at the time was to respond to the AIDS crisis," Executive Director Heriberto Sanchez-Soto said to Latin Post. Over time, however, the organization has shifted its focus as the needs of the LGBT community have changed.

"I think over the past 10 years or so, we have been a little bit conflicted with the idea of providing services to gay men purely in the context of HIV," Sanchez-Soto said. "Finally, last year ... after mulling over the concept ... we started to launch the Latino Pride Center."

Sanchez-Soto said the center more broadly emphasizes health awareness by addressing key issues, such as internalized homophobia, isolation, shunning, drug and alcohol abuse, and more. The group seeks to carry this awareness campaign to Sunday's pride celebration, slated to begin at 12:30 p.m.

"Although it is an opportunity for us to celebrate, we also address issues," Sanchez-Soto said. "We highlight the issues central to the organization, whether it is HIV or violence in the gay community or the lack of resources."

More than 300 people are expected to gather to march with the group, which will be assembling at 11 a.m. Sunday at East 37 Street between Fifth and Madison avenues. To find out more about the group and the celebration, visit the Latino Pride Center's website.