Audrey Mbugua Wins Her Landmark Case!

Been talking about this on the blog since last year, and finally have some wonderful news to report.

Prominent Kenyan trans activist Audrey Mbugua has won her landmark case against the Kenyan National Examinations Council {KNEC}!

KNEC was ordered by the High Court Tuesday to change the name and gender marker on her academic certificates.   

Justice Weldon Korir said KNEC had failed to demonstrate why they couldn't make the changes requested by Ms. Mbugua, and gave them 45 days to print a new certificate without the gender marker.

The court ruled that Ms. Mbugua would have to pay for any extra costs to make the change, but you can obviously presume she was exceeding happy about this latest legal victory.

We won,” Mbugua told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “It’s a huge watershed moment.”

Back n July, the High Court ordered the Kenyan authorities to register her lobby group, Transgender Education and Advocacy, saying their refusal to do so had no legal basis and was an abuse of power.

Mbugua has also been nominated by the Dutch government for their Human Rights Tulip Award for the innovative and groundbreaking human rights work she has been doing raising the profile of transgender human rights issues in Kenya.

This is a huge win she's been fighting hard for, and congratulations to my Kenyan sis.  Common sense and justice did prevail in this case.

Audrey Mbugua Landmark Kenyan Case Update

I wrote back in June about the groundbreaking lawsuit that my Kenyan homegirl Audrey Mbugua filed against the Kenyan National Examinations Council (KNEC) and the Kenyan Attorney General's office to change the name on her KCSE certificates and other identity documents including her national identity card and passport to reflect who she is now.

In an August 6 hearing at the Milimani Law Court, the Kenyan Christian Lawyers Fellowship stuck their noses in Audrey's business and indicated they wished to join the case, claiming this landmark case will have an impact on legal practices in the country.  

Audrey (and I concur with her) says otherwise, but Judge Wilson Korir is giving the KCLF lawyers seven days to file an application proving that contention which Mbugua says she will oppose. 

The KCLF lawyers bid to join the case will be heard on September 2. 

Just for grins Audrey, I'd investigate whether some of our American faith based haters are either pumping cash into the Kenyan Christian Lawyers Fellowship, advising the KCLF attorneys or they have any connection to either Scott Lively, Ugandan MP David Bahati or other high profile American based or African continent fundamentalist haters and organizations. 

Hopefully this turns out to be just a legal speed bump and in the end common sense reigns and she emerges triumphant, which is probably what's scaring some of these faith based transphobes in the first place. 

Second Kenyan Transperson Wins Legal Case

Sometimes all it takes is one person standing tall, unapologetically living their lives and fighting tooth and nail for their own human rights to empower others to come out of the shadows and do the same.

It appears that is what's happening in Kenya right now.

Alexandra Nthungi  (using femme derivative of old name until I find out the name she goes by) was working in her grocery shop in January 2011 en femme in the town of Thika near the Kenyan capitol of Nairobi when police arrived, arrested her claiming she had assaulted a cis woman and taken to the Thika police Station for questioning about the assault.  Nthungi was stripped nude in front of the media to ostensibly discover her gender identity 

On June 18 Justice Mumbi Ngugi awarded Nthungi Sh200,000 ($2328.20 USD) for having her rights and dignity violated by officers at the Thika Police Station.     

Justice Ngugi stated the police did not have the powers to strip him to ascertain his gender and that the best they could do was to refer him to a medical doctor for assessment. She ruled that by subjecting her to a search, the police had an intention of humiliating Nthungi because she was dressed as a female and it was unlawful to strip her.

She ruled that whatever Nthungi’s choice was in relation to her mode of dressing and regardless of the fact that she perceived herself as a woman, she still retained her inherent worth and dignity to which all humans are entitled.

Of course Audrey Mbugua was pleased about the outcome of Nthungi’s case. “Although we are happy about the judgment, the judge should have compelled the police to offer a public apology. Sometimes it’s not about being compensated with money but being recognised as human.”

Audrey's History Making Kenyan Case

I've had the pleasure of conversing with Audrey Mbugua online for several years now and I'm looking forward to the day I finally meet this trailblazing Kenyan trans activist.   .
 
I'm following with keen interest her Kenyan history making legal case in her homeland in which she sued the Kenyan National Examinations Council and the Kenyan Attorney General to change the name on her KNEC certificates and other identity documents including her national identity card and passport to reflect who she is now.

“The process of changing my name and gender in my identity, travel and academic documents was fraught with challenges such as lack of understanding among public officers in charge of these processes,” Audrey says in a recent interview.

The initial court hearing was on May 28 and the counsel representing KNEC and the attorney general asked  High Court Judge Weldon Korir for more time to prepare a response to Mbugua's petition because this case is in their words 'tricky'.   The counsel also indicated that the petition response will require extensive consultations between several Kenyan government departments, including the Registrar of Births and Deaths.

There's nothing 'tricky' about it.  29 year old Audrey lives her life as and presents as female, she has undergone a medical transition except the genital surgery she started in 2001, and her documentation needs to reflect that.

  


Audrey's interview on NTV Kenya



Good luck sis!  Hope common sense prevails on August 6 and your document changes are granted..

Audrey Mbugua's Fight For Her Kenyan Document Recognition

One of the missions of TransGriot I take seriously as a child of the African Diaspora is to relentlessly point out trans people exist on the second largest continent on our planet and the Mother Continent for humanity.  

One of the things that's a common thread across the world in our trans human rights struggle is getting documentation to match our new identities.  In some places it's a simple process to get that changed, while in others you have to fight tooth and nail and sometimes litigate it just to get it done.

One of the persons finding themselves in the fighting tooth and nail category is someone whose videos and writings I've highlighted on TransGriot before in Audrey Mbugua. 

Audrey transitioned in 2001 and she's in the news in her native Kenya because she's having to take the Kenya National Examinations Council to court in order to recognize her gender change and make the necessary documentation corrections to reflect who she is now.   KNEC is resisting her request to change her KCSE certificates, and it's negatively impacting her ability to find employment. 

'I have made several requests to the Kenya National Examinations Council to change the name on my KCSE certificate to reflect my true identity in vain," she said in a Kenyan Daily Post interview.

In her lawsuit she has named the Kenyan Attorney General and KNEC as defendants, and it goes to trial on May 28.

Good luck sis, and hope you prevail.

Audrey Mbugua Video

I've talked about and posted some links to Kenyan trans activist Audrey Mbugua's essays here on TransGriot, and was pleased to stumble across some YouTube videos of her speaking about trans issues 

Once again, it points out that transpeople do exist on the second largest continent on the planet, and the voices of transpeople based there like Audrey and others across the vast African continent need to be heard in the global conversation occurring about trans human rights issues.

Lindsay's Free To Live As A Woman, At Last

One of the things I'm very happy to see as a child of the African Diaspora is transpeople on the Mother Continent telling their stories.

Lindsay of the Lindsay's Life blog is a young Kenyan transwomen talking about her life and her transition. She was recently featured in a August 18 newspaper article by Maryanne Waweru.

“Today, I’m living my life the way I was meant to,” Lindsay* begins. Born male and named Leo*, Lindsay had lived all her life as a man. Then, in September last year, she began her journey to womanhood.

Recalling her feelings of being “trapped” in the wrong body she says, “I remember playing with dolls and other girlie toys. I hated boyish toys. I also remember secretly trying on some of my mother’s clothes, shoes and make up.

I especially loved walking in her high heels. Emotionally, I felt like a girl,” recalls the finance assistant with a local NGO. Perturbed by Leo’s behaviour, his mother gave him a serious tongue-lashing. “I felt sad because I couldn’t understand why she was angry with me, yet I was only behaving naturally,” Lindsay explains.

It's entitled 'Free to Live As a Woman, at Last.'