A 47-year-old Ecuadoran journalist named René Salinas Ramos has legally changed his gender identification to female.
Speaking in Spanish, Ramos explained that the legal system in his country of Ecuador unfairly favors the mother in custody cases.
Ciudadano ecuatoriano cambió su género a femenino para luchar por la custodia de sus hijas. “Mi actuar no es contra nadie en particular, sino contra el sistema”, dijo Rene Salinas, quien renunció a su género masculino en el Registro Civil de Cuenca.
🎥: https://t.co/VjHyzCLGbp 👀 pic.twitter.com/Jg2ZLENYS8— La Voz del Tomebamba (@tomebamba) December 30, 2022
Ramos is looking to secure full custody of his two young daughters. Now that Ramos identifies as a woman, it is more likely that Ramos will receive custody.
“As of this moment, I am female. Now I’m also a mom,” Ramos said in an interview.
“That’s how I consider myself. I am very sure of my sexuality,” Ramos added. “What I have sought is to give the love and protection that a mother can give her children.”
Ramos showed cameras that he received a new ID which denotes his new female identity.
“Being a father in this country, Ecuador, is punished, and I’m only seen as a provider,” Ramos said.
“The laws say that the one who has the right is the woman,” he added.
Liberals have come under fire in recent years for denying the science of biological sex and the traditional and legal definitions of gender.
Ramos argued that his ex-wife is physically abusive to the children.
He also says that he hasn’t been able to see either daughter in over five months.
In 2015, the Ecuadorian Gender Identity Law was passed and allows adults to change their gender identity by “self-declaration.”
In the U.S., some states require documentation that the person has undergone medical treatment in order to change gender identification.
“Now that I am a woman, I can be a mother,” he said, “and I am on equal footing to fight for the parental authority of my daughters.”
“My actions are not against anyone in particular, but against the system which stigmatizes being born male,” he added.
Ramos says he will continue to fight for the rights of fathers in general, even as a woman.
