The long Overdue f ight for intersex recognition in Kenya
by admin on | 2025-04-03 08:00:01
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An Intersex is a person who is conceived and born with a biological sex characteristic that cannot be exclusively categorized in the common binary of female or male due to their inherent and mixed anatomical, hormonal, gonadal (ovaries and testes) or chromosomal (X and Y) patterns, which could be apparent before, at birth, in childhood, puberty or adulthood. 1The intersex condition affects the biological sex of a person and is medically referred to as Disorders of Sex Development (DSD).2 The United Nations estimates that 1.7% of babies born across the world are intersex.3 In Kenya, the 2019 census reported 1524 intersex persons in the country.4 Despite this, the existence of intersex persons was ignored in law and policy, leading to discrimination, stigma and violation of human rights.5 Throughout history, intersex persons have faced myriad problems in society occasioned by the binary categorization of male and female.6 Initially, they were referred to as \"hermaphrodites\", which implies a person born the person is fully male and fully female.7 The term intersex replaced hermaphrodites in the 20th century.8 With the development of modern medicine, 1 intersex children were subjected to unnecessary genitalia surgery to conform to either male or female. In Kenya, intersex is perceived with negativity, with many communities believing that intersex persons are unclean or possessed by evil spirits.9 Furthermore, the association of intersex people with the LGBTQ community escalates the level of stigma they experienced by intersex people.10 This exposed them to stigma, abuse, torture and discrimination.11 In recent years, however, Kenya has made great strides in the recognition and protection of intersex individuals. Various legislation, such as the Persons Deprived of Liberty Act, was amended to recognise intersex people. The Children Act of 2022 also recognised the need to protect intersex children in Kenya. But the biggest accomplishment is the final recognition of intersex as a sex. Legal Notice No. 153 of 2024 included intersex in the sex maker in birth and death registrations.12 This paper analyses the legal and policy framework that governs the rights of intersex people. It argues that, in addition to recognition, the Intersex Persons Bill needs to be adopted to implement adequate measures to protect intersex people... Read more
