PHOTOS: Ugandan LGBT community Celebrates Gay Pride Despite Nation's Taboo

Dozens of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Uganda gathered on Saturday to celebrate gay pride in Entebbe on the shores of Lake Victoria a year after a tough anti-homosexuality law was overturned.

Held at the Entebbe Botanical Gardens, the event attracted more than 100 people, who waved rainbow flags in an effort to raise awareness about being gay in Uganda.

Like most of sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda is highly religious and socially conservative. Disapproval of homosexuality is widespread, and attacks on gays are common.

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"We feel and we think this is a step moving forward, and it is about trying to show the wider community that violence, discrimination, harassment, stigma against LGBT people is bad," said gay rights activist Moses Kimbugwe. "So we are here to send a message to the wider population that we do exist and we want rights like any other Ugandan."

Legislation passed by parliament almost a year ago, which would have punished gay sex with long prison terms, provoked a storm of international protests and led some donor countries to withhold aid, but the constitutional court overturned the law last August.

The earlier version would have punished gay sex with harsh prison terms, including life sentences for "aggravated homosexuality".

Influential evangelical pastors have urged Ugandan legislators to reintroduce the law since it was quashed.

The organizers of the event had kept the exact location under wraps until today because of concerns about safety as, in most of Africa's 54 states, LGBT people have to hide their sexual orientation for fear of persecution or criminal prosecution.

"Why do I have to celebrate it in an isolated place?" said Sandra Ntebi another gay activist, referring to the rainbow colours she was wearing. "Who am I showing that I am proud? Because we are celebrating to our own selves. But my dream is to see myself have this, wear this."

Homosexuality remains taboo in Uganda and many socially conservative African societies where some religious groups have branded it a corrupting Western import.