Transitioning Africa joins Argentina in celebrating the passage of the most progressive gender identity law in history. The law gives self-identified trans people access to critical services without the need for medical intervention and provides for specific human rights protections. Argentina’s Senate passed the law on May 9th, with 55 votes in favour, one abstention and no votes against.

We congratulate the Argentinian trans* activists, their allies and the parliament for working on, tirelessly lobbying for, and eventually seeing the law passed in their country.

Here in Africa, trans* and intersex people undergo a plethora of human rights violations ranging from lack of proper gender affirming procedures and medical care, high levels of stigma and discrimination from the society and from the lesbian, gay and bisexuals community, being ostracised by their families, friends, churches for being different, being killed by their parents due to archaic inhumane cultural beliefs and so forth.

Many African governments and laws do not cater for trans* and intersex gender reassignment/ affirming procedures thus making it difficult for trans* and intersex persons to live a life, equal to their counterparts. Furthermore, the governments treat many trans* and intersex persons as criminals. Many African police forces continue to make the lives of trans* and intersex Africans difficult by harassing them on the streets, arresting them and charging them with charges such as “impersonation”, by raping them in a bid to “make them straight”, by charging them under sodomy laws which do not apply to trans* and intersex persons among many other violations of their rights.

Transitioning Africa envisions a strong and robust trans* and intersex movement in Africa, based on human rights principles.

Our mission is to:

• Strive for gender recognition with social movements in Africa.
• Build a trans* and intersex leadership capacity by supporting both individuals and organisations.
• Advocate for trans* and intersex issues within regional and international platforms; support local efforts.
• Document the history of the trans* and intersex movement in Africa.

Signed:
Liesl Theron - Gender Dynamix
Tebogo Nkoana - Transgender and Intersex Africa
Julius Kaggwa - SIPD Uganda

For more details: transitioning-africa@genderdynamix.org.za

Transitioning Africa - A partnership between Gender DynamiX, Transgender and Intersex Africa, & the Support Initiative for People with atypical Sexual Development