jmuthoni@standardmedia.co.ke
John Karanja Kariuki was born with ambiguous genitalia, but both the birth attendant and his parents believed he was a girl. When he was born on November 27, 1993, he was given the name Dorcas Wangui Kariuki. His parents proceeded to raise him as a girl and all his school documents contain the female name. Everyone around the 27-year old man treated him as a girl until sometime in 2011 when he started manifesting male characteristics such as a broken voice and a bushy beard.
“The foregoing made the petitioner uncomfortable and subjected him to great ridicule. Especially from his classmates, who previously treated him as a girl,” his lawyer John Chigiti explained.
He went to the hospital a few years back and the doctor confirmed that he is a man. Court record reads that he underwent the first corrective surgery on February 8, 2013, and the second one was after a year. Following the surgery, the then Wangui had to change his name to reflect the new identity. He ch
