Uganda has a very long and, quite permissive, and sometimes violent history regarding the LGBT community, stretching back from the pre-colonial period, through British colonial control, and even after independence.
During precolonial times, the “mudoko dako,” or effeminate males among the Langi of northern Uganda were treated as women and could marry men. Religious roles for cross-dressing men were historically found among the Bunyoro people. The Teso people also acknowledged a category of men who dressed as women. However, it is worth to point out that a man dressing as a woman was not an indication of his sexual orientation.[1]
Kabaka Mwanga II, who ruled in the latter half of the 19th century, was bisexual.[2][3] Homosexuality in Uganda was criminalized in 1902.[4]