Five transgender Kenyans sue the State for refusing to process their change of names on their national identity cards. The state had processed their new passports but refused to do the same for their national identity cards. Some of these applications had been made in 2010.
The High Court dismisses Transgender Education & Advocacy (TEA)’s case terming it premature as the medical board had formed a task force to advise the Ministry of Health on the development of guidelines on the management of transsexualism. TEA is ordered to pay the state’s legal fees.
Transgender Education & Advocacy (TEA) files a judicial review application at the high court seeking orders compelling the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board and Ministry of Health to develop medical guidelines for the treatment of transsexualism.
The board of Transgender Education & Advocacy (TEA), comprising of 3 transgender Kenyans, sues the state and the NGO Coordination Board for refusing to register TEA as an NGO. The state and the board oppose the case indicating that they could not register TEA because they could not tell the gender of the board members. The board also indicates that the applicants’ names on their national identity cards did not match the names submitted by the applicants when they applied for registration.
Kenya’s High Court upholds Batha’s petition earlier in the same year declaring that the stripping and physical assault of Batha by the Kenya Police violated her human rights (A.N.N v Attorney General). The court observed that the stripping in the glare of the media was meant to humiliate her and deny her of her dignity. The court further prescribed proper procedure for the arrest of accused persons who are transgender. She is awarded USD 2,000.
Audrey Mbugua, a transgender woman, files a case (JR Case No. 147 of 2013) at Kenya’s High Court to compel the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) to change the name in her high school diploma. She also sought the removal of the male sex mark on her certificate.
Batha Nthungi, a transgender woman, files a constitutional petition (240 of 2012) against Kenya’s Attorney General for violation of her human rights. She had been arrested in 2011 and stripped by a police officer after it was discovered that she was transgender.
Isaac Mwaura, a Kenyan Parliamentarian wants the Parliament to pass the option of Third Gender in Kenya in order to legally recognize intersex people.
Kenya’s High Court issues a ruling compelling the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to issue Audrey Mbugua with a new certification with her new name and without a gender mark. The court observed that “Human dignity is that intangible element that makes a human being complete. It goes to the heart of human identity. Every human has a value. Human dignity can be violated through humiliation, degradation, or dehumanization. Each individual has inherent dignity which our Constitution protects. Human dignity is the cornerstone of the other human rights enshrined in the Constitution.” Further, the court noted that “the law does not require that a gender mark be imposed on a KCSE certificate. A KCSE certificate can therefore be complete without a gender mark. The Court takes judicial notice of the fact that examinations in this country (Kenya) are not administered based on the gender of the candidate. Marks are also not awarded based on gender. Removal of the gender mark will therefore not dilute the quality of the certificate.”
The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (sometimes known as the Equality Act) was passed by the South African government in 2000 to prevent discrimination, hate speech, and harassment. Following the work of activists, in 2005 PEPUDA was amended and became the first legislation in the world to include “intersex” within the legal definition of “sex” as “a congenital sexual differentiation which is atypical, to whatever degree.” This definition of intersex reflects activist work as it is almost identical to the recommendation submitted to the court by Intersex South Africa. Sally Gross, advocated and worked passionately towards this inclusion. One of the major activist accomplishments of this legislation was to insist that intersex be self-defined, removing it from medical oversight or forced surgery that often accompanies legal definitions of “sex.”
