This custody battle is tough. As “Vice” reports, René Salinas Ramos (47) from Ecuador has officially changed his gender to take care of his two girls. Instead of male, it now says female in his passport.
And this despite the fact that he does not plan to undergo sex reassignment surgery. It was only the belief that mothers are usually preferred when it comes to custody issues that made him officially go through life as a woman in the future.
“In this country, being a father is punished and I’m only seen as the breadwinner,” Ramos told local media.
“From this moment on, I am a woman”
The father finally wants to hug his daughters again. They currently live with their mother, where they are reportedly exposed to a violent environment. He hasn’t seen his girls in over five months. “The laws say women have the right to do that. From this moment on I am a woman. Now I am also a mother, that’s how I see myself,” Ramos said in December before the registry office in the city of Cuenca in the south of the country.
The sudden transition to femininity and its drivers are causing a stir in the LGBTQ movement. The English abbreviation LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer.
For years they had been arguing for such a law for genuine trans citizens. And now someone comes and shamelessly takes advantage of it. The Ecuadorian Association of LGBTQ Organizations described Ramos’ actions as “outrageous”.
“Now We’re Afraid”
“This man’s private pursuit of custody of his daughters is not in keeping with the spirit of the law,” trans activist Diane Rodríguez, 40, told Vice. She thought it was fake news at first. “Now we are afraid that we will go backwards and that they will legislate against us,” she said.
As “Vice” continues to write, Ramos is an isolated case. He is the first man to use the law to gain advantage in a custody battle. Whether Ramos’ plan works remains to be seen. As the father told Jam Press, his daughters will stay with their mother until the case is resolved. (dzc)