Photos (safe for work): Marchers push for equality with GoTopless Day parade in NYC

MANHATTAN, New York (WABC) -- Marchers in Manhattan pulled off their shirts Sunday in a push for gender equality.

The GoTopless Day parade was held for the second year in a row.

The event came two days after Women's Equality Day, marking the day American women earned the right to vote.

WEB EXTRA: See photos of the event in the slideshow above (all photos are safe for work)

It is legal for women to go topless in New York City.

Organizers are pushing for gender equality when it comes to being topless elsewhere in the country, and across the world.

The parade started at 1 p.m. at 58th Street and Eighth Avenue and marched down Broadway.

Parades were also scheduled in other cities, including Chicago, Washington D.C., Miami Beach and Venice Beach, California.

Events included gatherings at beaches from New Hampshire to California.

A group of about 50 women and men were walking topless in the oceanside Los Angeles neighborhood of Venice, behind a giant, inflatable pink breast that had the phrase "equal topless rights" written on it.

One marcher carried a sign that said: "My Body Is Not A Crime."

Other celebrations were held in cities across the globe. Activists in the movement argue women should be able to go topless in public, just as men can.

Cities and states have varying laws regarding whether it's legal for women to go topless in public.

Nadine Gray, president of GoTopless, said she hopes the events will take away the shock and awe around seeing female breasts.

"This push for women to go topless in the 21st century is as strong as women wanting to vote in the 20th century," she said. "It may be sensual, but it's not illegal to be sensual."

The legality of women going topless varies by state.

Kia Sinclair is an event organizer for GoTopless Day at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire.

"It's in hopes to show people that it can be normal, that it's really not a big deal and it's not about getting attention or protesting," she said.

Sinclair was also part of a group of women who last year helped beat back an effort to criminalize toplessness in the state.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)