The last time I talked about Ecuadorian trans activist Diane Rodriguez on this blog I along with the rest of Trans World was anxiously waiting to see if she'd make trans history and become only the fourth trans person on Planet Earth and the first in the Western Hemisphere to be elected to her national legislature. That didn't happen for her last February, but Diane is back in the news. She has filed a lawsuit against the Ecuadorian government in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights based in San Jose, Costa Rica to get her nation to correct the gender code on her identity documents.
Rodriguez is the founder of the Ecuadorian TBLGI rights organization X Silhouette Association and has been battling for five years to have her identity documents changed. In 2009 she set a precedent in Ecuador by becoming the first transperson in her nation to take her case to the Civil Registry and have her name legally changed.
The problem is that Ecuador is one of those nations that won't change the gender code on those identity documents without surgical intervention. That requirement for genital surgery not only is a medical barrier for some people, it's also a fiscal one because many poor Ecuadorian transpeople who would like to change name and gender code to match their gender presentation don't have the means to afford SRS.
Ecuador’s constitution protects people on the basis of ‘aesthetic freedom,’ and guarantees equality before the law without discrimination on the basis of gender identity. - See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/transgender-woman-sues-ecuador-refusing-recognize-her-new-gender180214#sthash.I0RxXnYW.dpuf
Ecuador's constitution has language in it that not only guarantees equality of the law without discrimination based on gender identity, but protects people on the basis of 'aesthetic freedom'.
‘I have to continue the process, not only for me but for the entire GLBT community, and in this case specifically for the trans community,’ Rodriguez said - See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/transgender-woman-sues-ecuador-refusing-recognize-her-new-gender180214#sthash.I0RxXnYW.dpuf
"I have to continue the process, not only for me but for the entire GLBT community, and in this case specifically for the trans community," Rodriguez said in an interview. She is hoping that in taking her case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, they will rule that those clauses in the Ecuadorian constitution also include the right of pre-op (or non operative) transsexuals to change the gender codes in their identity documents.
Best of luck to Diane and hope she gets an important legal win for herself and the transpeople of Ecuador.
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