Transgender Black Women Talk Global Liberation

Miss Ricki looking fly for the afternoon

On this episode of Black Diplomats we’re talking to three Transgender Black Women in three different countries about what liberation looks like for them. There is more transgender representation in media and politics than ever before, but transgender people still have to deal with hate and misgendering. Host Terrell J. Starr brings together a brilliant panel of activists from the US, Nigeria, and South Africa to fill us in on where the movement stands today, what it means for their fight to be connected on a global scale, and the true sound of freedom for Transgender Black Women everywhere.

Diamond Stylz

I am the Executive Director of Black Trans Women Inc, a national non-profit that is led by Black trans women focused on social advocacy, positive visibility and building strong leadership among Black trans advocates, activists, and our allies. We host an annual empowerment conference with trans specific programming that draws from the U.S. and beyond.

I am the producer and creator of Marsha’s Plate podcast. It’s a podcast that knows that everybody can’t come to the cookout. It is hosted by three trans people of color exploring pop culture current events and our problematic nemesis from a black trans feminist lens. it is the only podcast of its kind.

Audrey Mbugua

Audrey Mbugua is a Kenyan activist who heads Transgender Education and Advocacy (TEA), an organization that defends the rights of transgender individuals in Kenya. In 2014, Mbugua won a landmark case, wherein the Kenya National Examinations Council was ordered to legally change Mbugua’s name and remove the existing gender designation on her academic certificates. Mbugua has also advocated for permission of sex reassignment therapy in Kenya by challenging the 2016 Health Bill. She continues to fight for transgender rights, and was nominated for the Human Rights Tulip Award by the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2014.

Ricki Kgositau

 I am an openly identified transwoman from Botswana (though my family is originally from the North-West province in South Africa) and I live in Cape Town - South Africa. I am an Executive Director to an International NGO known as Accountability International, which has a global team in Belgium, Kenya, Sweden (where it was founded and registered) and South Africa (where I am based in the Cape Town office).

I am trans person of faith who is busy with a journey of answering to a call in ministry and denominationally identify as Methodist, where I am a part of the Presiding Bishop's LGBTIQ+ Task Team mandated to action a resolution of Conference 2019 looking at integration of LGBTI persons meaningfully into church life, settling the theological debate on the solemnisation of same sex/same gender marriages and queer clergy.