Barely a week after Uganda’s Constitutional Court struck down the infamous Anti-Homosexuality Act on a procedural technicality, the LGBT community held their third annual Pride celebration in Entebbe, on the banks of Lake Victoria. While activists were reluctant to call the ruling a victory — particularly because the court decision failed to address the constitutionality of the law itself — taking the AHA off the books was certainly a first step in improving life for sexual minorities in Uganda and injecting hope into a strengthening human rights movement.
David Bahati, the MP responsible for authoring the law, announced that he plans to reintroduce a new iteration of the bill in the current session of Parliament. But for now, sexual health organizations have resumed services, support groups are meeting again, and even a few LGBT-friendly bars and nightclubs are reopening their doors as well. These photos from August 9 mark a turning point in the evolution of Ugandan LGBT rights.