Juliet Victor Mukasa (1976 - ) Ugandan activist

Victor identifies as both lesbian and transgender. He was beaten by his father for behaving like a boy. His family requested that he stop using the name ‘Mukasa’ because it embarrasses the dead father. In church he was stripped naked and his clothes and shoes burnt to ‘kill the male spirit’.

He has been evicted and fired from his job several times because he is either lesbian or transgender. In 2002 started speaking out on radio and in the press. In 2005 his house was raided and documents taken. He is chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). When he spoke on a radio program, the station was fined heavily. His house was raided by the police in 2005.

He is sued the Ugandan Government. He fled to South Africa for nearly a year to get some relief.
In 2008 he joined the staff of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
Finally after more than three years, a court ruling in December 2008 that the raid had violated the plaintifs rights to privacy and awarded them 13 million shillings ($6,700). The Minister of Ethic and Integrity announced that the Governmant would not appeal, but that the laws against homosexuality were clearly inadequate.

• “On Transgender Human Rights Issues in Africa”. International Lesbian and Gay Association. 23/10/2006. http://www.ilga.org/news_results.asp?LanguageID=1&FileCategory=1&FileID=908.
• “Trial by fire: Why Ugandan transgender activist Victor Juliet Mukasa is taking on the Government in an historic court case”. New Internationalist. May 2007. www.newint.org/features/2007/05/01/uganda.
• Doug Ireland. “Some Justice in Uganda”. Gay City. 01/09/2009. www.gaycitynews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20238134&BRD=2729&PAG=461&dept_id=569346&rfi=6.