Thursday, May 16, 2013

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.

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