[17][18][19][20][21] Similarly to neighbouring Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi, male homosexual relations were acknowledged and tolerated in precolonial Ugandan society.

[24][25][26] The last reigning Kabaka of Buganda, or king, Mwanga II, was known to have regular sexual relations with men and women: Having had a total of sixteen wives, he also had sex with his male pages, a traditional privilege of his royal position.

The degree of the pages' autonomy and ability to give free consent is unclear; this uncertainty is exploited by anti-LGBT activists in depicting Mwanga as abusive and predatory.

He espoused a more aggressive policy than many other African leaders, choosing to expel all missionaries and insist that Christian and Muslim converts abandon their faith or face death.

[1][29] In particular, evangelical activist Scott Lively delivered a speech at a 2009 anti-gay seminar in Uganda,[30][31] and consulted influential Ugandans[30][32] to affect the introduction of anti-LGBT legislation.

[45] In August 2021, President Museveni confirmed that he would not sign the bill into law at this time, suggesting much of its content is already covered by existing legislation and sending it back to Parliament to address these redundancies.

[46] Museveni reportedly also had concerns about foreign policy implications and democratic buy-in and felt it was not politically advantageous to sign it as he had already recently won re-election.

[50] The bill passed on 17 December 2013 with a punishment of life in prison instead of the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality",[51] and the new law was promulgated in February 2014.

[58] The court also ruled that Uganda's Parliament cannot create a class of "social misfits who are referred to as immoral, harmful and unacceptable" and cannot legislate the discrimination of such persons.

[58] Following the ruling, Maria Burnett, Human Rights Watch Associate Director for East Africa, said: "Because of their work, all Ugandans should now be able to bring cases of discrimination – against their employers who fired or harassed them, or landlords who kicked them out of their homes – and finally receive a fair hearing before the commission."

[60][10][11] In 2004, the Uganda Broadcasting Council fined Radio Simba over $1,000 and forced it to issue a public apology after hosting homosexuals on a live talk show.

Information Minister Nsaba Buturo said the measure reflected Ugandans' wish to uphold "God's moral values" and "We are not going to give them the opportunity to recruit others.

For young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender ... and cannot legally marry in Uganda, ... these messages imply, wrongly, that there is no safe way for them to have sex.

They also convey a message about the intrinsic wrongfulness of homosexual conduct that reinforces existing social stigma and prejudice to potentially devastating effect.

"[62] In June 2012, the Ugandan Government announced the ban of 38 non-governmental organizations (NGO) it accused of "promoting homosexuality" and "undermining the national culture".

[64] Later in the month, the Ugandan Government, in an apparent rebuke of Lokodo, announced that it will no longer attempt to break up meetings of LGBT rights groups.

[65] The U.S. Department of State's 2011 human rights report found that:[66] LGBT persons faced discrimination and legal restrictions.

LGBT persons were subject to societal harassment, discrimination, intimidation, and threats to their well-being [in 2011] and were denied access to health services.

Discriminatory practices also prevented local LBGT NGOs from registering with the NGO Board and obtaining official NGO status....On January 26, [2011] LGBT activist David Kato, who had successfully sued the local tabloid discussed above for the 2010 publication of his picture under the headline "Hang Them," was bludgeoned to death at his home outside Kampala.

[a] It is directed at a range of socially disapproved individuals for actual or perceived wrongdoing, due, in the view of the State Department's report, to the community's lack of confidence in the police and judiciary.

[70] Extrajudicial police actions against LGBT individuals, such as arbitrary detention, beatings and psychological coercion, meet the United Nations criteria for torture.

[60] In August 2006, a Ugandan newspaper, The Red Pepper, published a list of the first names and professions (or areas of work) of forty-five allegedly gay men.

[75] In October 2010, the tabloid paper Rolling Stone published the full names, addresses, photographs, and preferred social-hangouts of 100 allegedly gay and lesbian Ugandans, accompanied by a call for their execution.

David Kato, Kasha Jacqueline, and Pepe Julian Onziema, all members of the Civil Society Coalition On Human Rights and Constitutional Law, filed suit against the tabloid.

A High Court judge in January 2011 issued a permanent injunction preventing Rolling Stone and its managing editor Giles Muhame from "any further publications of the identities of the persons and homes of the applicants and homosexuals generally".

The court's decision confirmed the bureau's legal right to withhold registration from SMUG as an organisation whose objectives "are in contravention of the laws of Uganda."

While NGOs barred from registration could operate on an informal basis as "associations", they are restricted from opening bank accounts or seeking funding from donations.

A 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project poll found that 96 percent of Ugandan residents believed that homosexuality is a way of life that society should not accept, which was the fifth-highest rate of non-acceptance in the 45 countries surveyed.

Gay men from over 120 countries were asked about how they feel about society's view on homosexuality, how do they experience the way they are treated by other people and how satisfied are they with their lives.

On August 30, local media reported that a mob in Fort Portal Town killed a man by cutting off his head after they found him with a stolen chicken.