Transgenders now seek legal recognition in Health Bill
Transgender people in Kenya have submitted a memorandum on the 2016 Health Bill, currently with the Senate, seeking to be legally recognised and stop the stigma associated with the gender identity.
They say there is a national stigma associated with transsexuality and that they face a number of challenges when seeking healthcare in the country.
The submission follows a request by the Senate Committee on Health, currently sitting at Parliament.
“Transgender people are not Homosexuals (gays and lesbians), hermaphrodites, cross dressers or prostitutes,” the memo reads.
GAP IN LAWS
They say there is a gap in the current health laws on providing sex reassignment therapy by medical practitioners among the healthcare providers.
“We propose inclusion of sex reassignment therapy to be permitted by this Act and inclusion in the Health Bill to solve these challenges,” Audrey Mbugua, the head of Transgender Education and Advocacy, states in the memo.
The transsexuals want sex reassignment therapy to consist of psychiatric, endocrine and surgical procedures to bring about desired behavioural and medical outcomes.
They have spelt out the criteria to be met by those seeking sex reassignment therapy, including provisions that “the individual must be diagnosed with gender identity disorder; a persistent discomfort with assigned sex and an uncontrollable drive to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex, usually accompanied by the wish to make his or her body as congruent as possible with the preferred sex through surgery and hormone treatment.”
They also say that a person who wants a sex change “shall be at least 16 years of age to access psychiatric and endocrine interventions.”
