An Ecuadorian man allegedly changed his gender to female in order to gain custody of his daughter more easily, as the court favors mothers in custody battles.
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Rene Salinas Ramos is currently battling for custody of his two daughters, who are currently living with their mother. Ramos decided to legally change his gender after believing that the legal system in Ecuador favors the rights of mothers despite certain circumstances, and he claims it was only a “test of his love for his daughters,” as reported by Oddity Central.
Ramos went on to say that he hadn’t seen his oldest daughter in a year and that his second had allegedly become the victim of physical abuse. He explained his daughters’ situation to the Cantonal Board for the Protection of Rights but was told that they would remain in their mother’s custody until the issue was resolved. In order to save his daughters, he made the extreme decision to change his gender.
“The laws say that the one who has the right is the woman. As of this moment, I am female. Now I’m also a mom, and that’s how I consider myself. I am very sure of my sexuality. What I have sought is that I want to be a mother, so that I can also give the love and protection of a mother.”
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Last week, Ramos went to the Civil Registry of Azuay to change the sex on his government-issued identification card but the process didn’t take too long to be approved. In a report by Vice News, LBGTQ activists are concerned about the case because they have fought to have the country’s law revised in order to allow an individual to change their gender in 2015.
Diane Rodriguez, the national director of the Ecuadorian Federation of Organizations LBGTI, said a judge would not give Ramos custody of his daughters due to a change in gender. She also became Ecuador’s first transgender assembly person from 2018 to 2022.
“Like René Salinas Ramos, the media have identified the cisgender man who has used the optional gender change in the identity card, for trans people, promoted by the Trans Ecuador National Platform since 2015. The event occurred in the city of Cuenca, the last week of the year 2022. He has stated to the media that, “he did not do it because of a sexual tendency, but to set a legal precedent and fight harder for the custody of his children.”
Her organization said in its statement that the law was approved in 2015 in order to protect the common good of a population that has been discriminated against throughout history.
“These disadvantages have to do with the very instrumentalization of our bodies of a certain Cis-Hetero-LGB sector, to the lack of guarantee of our lives by the State and governments. Include our trans identities within full citizenship, which are rejected for breaking the cis-hetero-patriarchal norm.”