Kenya high court rules government must consider gender marker changes on ID documents

In a major development for transgender rights in Kenya, the High Court has ruled that the government must properly consider requests to change sex or gender markers on official identity documents.

In a decision issued on Wednesday, Justice Bahati Mwamuye said current registration laws do not prevent transgender people from applying to change the gender marker on their documents.

The ruling came from a 2020 petition filed by transgender rights activist Audrey Mbugua and two others in Kenya.

“The Births and Deaths Registration Act Chapter 149 and the Registration of Persons Act Chapter 107, when interpreted in a manner consistent with the Constitution, do not expressly prohibit the consideration and determination of applications for alteration of sex or gender markers,” Mwamuye found, reported The Star.

The court said that refusing to even consider these applications is unconstitutional. It ruled that authorities cannot automatically deny them. Instead, each application must be reviewed individually in a fair and reasonable way without discrimination.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) welcomed the decision. In a statement, it called the ruling “an important step forward for the rights, dignity, equality, privacy, and recognition of transgender persons in Kenya.”

The group also said government agencies must act fairly and in line with the Constitution and Bill of Rights when handling such cases.

It added, “For many transgender persons, identity documents that do not reflect their lived realities create daily barriers to accessing healthcare, education, employment, housing, travel, financial services, and many more challenges. This judgment acknowledges those lived realities and affirms that constitutional protections apply equally to all persons without discrimination,” said KHRC.

In 2025, the High Court in Eldoret also ruled in favor of a transgender woman, Shieys Chepkosgei. She had been detained in 2019 and charged with “impersonation.” The court later ordered the Government of Kenya to begin drafting legislation on transgender rights and to present it to Parliament for consideration.

Despite these rulings, same-sex relationships remain illegal in Kenya under colonial-era laws.

Consensual same-sex acts can still lead to prison sentences of up to 14 years.

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