Several dozen Ugandans marked Gay Pride on Saturday, cheering that such a parade could go ahead in a country that only last year tried to impose long jail terms for gay sex.
At a secluded beach in Entebbe, on Lake Victoria just outside the capital Kampala, a group of about 70 people holding banners including “I have a relationship with Jesus and I’m gay”, marched a short distance as music blared out.
Gays and lesbians in Uganda often live secretive lives, fearful that coming out will attract stigma and hostility from family and friends, or the loss of a job or an apartment.
“We are here to send a message to the wider population that we do exist and we want rights like any other Ugandan,” said Moses Kimbugwe, one of the marchers. “We think this is a step moving forward.”
Although some of the revellers described the march – the culmination of a week of gay rights events in Uganda – as a triumph, they said their joy was tempered by the fact that society was still largely hostile to them and that attitudes were unlikely to change quickly.
