LGBTQ ACTIVIST MAKENA NJERI CHANGES HER NAME TO CHRIS MURIITHI

LGBTQ activist Christine Makena Njeri has changed her name to Chris Muriithi. 

Bold Network CEO made the change on December 14, in May of 2020 Makena came out as gay. Speaking online, the media personality said she is happy, free and bold further detailing challenges she faced while growing up as gay. “Somewhere along the journey I started to discover what it meant to live your truth, I started to discover who I really was and I decided to be loyal and own my authenticity. Doing it freed me from my own misery and I made an effort to constantly be happy,” she said.

Makena also disclosed that for 10 years, she had been struggling to live a normal life due to societal norms placed on people. “For the last decade, I struggled to live a normal life. Normal here means conforming to the different society norms that have been placed on us from a very young age. We were taught that suits are for boys and dresses for girls, the small little dolls are for girls and cars are for boys,” she said.

She added that the same societal norms even dictate who people should love, in the sense that a man should only fall in love with a woman and vice versa. “This very norm, even dictates who we should love, as a man you are only expected to be with a woman and as a woman, the only partner you should bring home is a man,” she said.

The actress famed for her role on Citizen TV’s Tahidi High argued that gender identity depends on one’s internal experience and perception of self, “I believe that gender identity is one’s own internal experience and perception of self. And you know what, it is actually separate from one’s sex. The journey towards expressing my own identity wasn’t easy. I had it rough for many years, where small decisions like what to wear to a wedding as an adult was something that constantly frustrated me because I wanted to wear shirts, coats, pants because that’s what I was comfortable doing but yet society insisted that as a woman I should attend these events in a dress,” said Makena.