Rikki Nathanson

Rikki Nathanson (born ) is a Zimbabwean transgender activist. She founded the organization Trans Research Education Advocacy and Training (TREAT) in 2015. After an arrest for entering a women's bathroom in Bulawayo 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.

Career and activism Rikki Nathanson (born ) Nathanson founded Trans Research Education Advocacy and Training (TREAT) in 2015. She currently heads the Global Trans Program at Outright International.

Courtcases In January 2014, Nathanson was arrested at a hotel in Bulawayo on the charge of criminal nuisance, after using a women's toilet. Six police officers 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 that no crime had been committed, so the charge was dropped.

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. 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 and worked at Casa Ruby, an LGBTQ organisation based in Washington, D.C.. In September 2019, she joined the directorial board of OutRight Action International. She was awarded the Felipa de Souza Award by OutRight in 2019. She applied for asylum on December 27, 2018, after attending OutRight Action International’s annual summit in New York, and was granted asylum by the U.S. on February 15, 2019. Her decision followed ongoing surveillance in Zimbabwe, including her phone being tapped and a car following her in August 2018, followed by a brutal attack by suspected government agents. At Casa Ruby, she served as director of HIV/AIDS prevention and outreach, ending as director of housing when she left in 2021.