Rikki Nathanson (born ) is a Zimbabwean

transgender activist The transgender rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate discrimination and violence against transgender people regarding housing, employment, public accommodations, education, and health c ...

. She founded the organization Trans Research Education Advocacy and Training (TREAT) in 2015. After an arrest for entering a women's bathroom in

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

in 2014, she filed a civil lawsuit for damages which she won in 2019. By that point, she had taken asylum in the US and she now lives in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Career and activism

Rikki Nathanson (born ) studied at the

Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

, becoming a

company secretary A Company secretary is a senior position in the corporate governance of organizations, playing a crucial role in ensuring adherence to statutory and regulatory requirements. This position is integral to the efficient functioning of corporations, ...

. After transitioning, she opened a modelling agency in 2005. Her activism started around 2007, when she joined the board of the Sexual Rights Centre. Nathanson founded Trans Research Education Advocacy and Training (TREAT) in 2015. She is involved in the Southern Africa Trans Forum and Africa Key Populations Expert Group, which reports to the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

Courtcases

In January 2014, Nathanson was arrested in a nightclub in

on the charge of criminal nuisance, after using a women's toilet. Six

police officers A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of ...

wearing riot gear took her into custody, where she spent three days and two nights, being subjected to physical examinations to confirm her gender. When the case came to court, the judge asked the prosecution to explain what the nuisance had been and it was established no crime had been committed, so the charge was dropped. Nathanson then decided upon a civil lawsuit against Farai Mteliso (the

ZANU–PF The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) is a political organisation which has been the ruling party of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. The party was led for many years by Robert Mugabe, first as prime minister wi ...

activist who had called the police),

Augustine Chihuri Augustine Chihuri (born 10 March 1953) is the former commissioner-general of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, having led the country's police force from 1991 to December 2017. He was named to the position in an acting on 18 December 1991, followin ...

(then Commissioner-General of the police),

Ignatius Chombo Ignatius Morgen Chiminya Chombo (born 1 August 1952) is a Zimbabwean politician who was Finance Minister of Zimbabwe in 2017. Previously he has served in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe as Minister of Home Affairs from 2015 to 2017, Minister of Local ...

(then Minister of Home Affairs) and Chief Inspector Enock Masimba (then Bulawayo Central Police commander). After five years, Nathanson won her court case in 2019. At the High Court, Justice Francis Bere stated in his summing up that "One cannot avoid concluding that the conduct of the police in arresting and detaining the plaintiff was quite outrageous because clearly, they abused their discretion in arresting her". He awarded damages of ZW$400,000 to Nathanson and left the costs to the defendants. Nathanson had requested for US$2.7 million in damages and ZW$400,000 was approximately US$1,100 at the time. "We are happy that justice, fairness and compassion has prevailed" said Tashwill Esterhuizen, a lawyer at the Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC). In Bere's judgement he also recognised transgender rights, saying Nathanson did not identify as male or female.

Asylum

By the time of her legal victory in 2019, Nathanson was already living in the US, having successfully requested asylum. She moved to

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fourth ...

and worked at

Casa Ruby Casa Ruby was a non-profit organization and community center in Washington, D.C., that provided housing, food, and other social services to LGBTQ people, primarily transgender, and gender queer people. Casa Ruby was founded by Ruby Corado and first ...

, an LGBTQ organisation based in Washington, D.C.. In September 2019, she joined the directorial board of

OutRight Action International Outright International (Outright) is an LGBTIQ human rights non-governmental organization that addresses human rights violations and abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. OutRight International documents human ...

. She was awarded the Felipa de Souza Award by OutRight in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathanson, Rikki Year of birth missing (living people) 1950s births Zimbabwean activists Zimbabwean transgender women LGBTQ rights activists Felipa de Souza Award Transgender rights activists 21st-century Zimbabwean LGBTQ people Living people People from Rockville, Maryland 21st-century Zimbabwean women Zimbabwean women activists