LGBTQ+ advocates are sounding the alarm over a new Ecuadorian adoption law explicitly banning LGBTQ+ couples in the South American country from adopting children.
The Reform Law of Various Legal Bodies for the Streamlining of Adoption took effect on August 14 after the National Assembly approved it 118-0, with the goal of reducing the time children spend in foster care by making the nation’s adoption process more efficient.
Related
But the legislation declares that only different-sex couples can adopt children (though marriage equality is legal in the country) and even says that single people adopting kids must be straight. It also says parents will be at risk of losing custody for “promoting” gender-affirming care for a trans child, though the meaning of “promoting” remains vague.
The law takes restrictions against LGBTQ+ families further than the Ecuadorian Constitution, which does state that adoption should be relegated to different-sex couples but says nothing about the sexuality of single parents.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
But the Constitution also bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, which advocacy groups argue is a clear contradiction.
“Improving the adoption system is a legitimate legislative goal, but it should not be used as a pretext to entrench discrimination and undermine children’s health,” Cristian González Cabrera, senior LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement at the end of August.
“By legislating on the basis of bias and misinformation rather than evidence, Ecuadorian lawmakers are endangering children and perpetuating stereotypes based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics,” Cabrera added.
The Ecuadorian LGBT Federation also spoke out against the bill, agreeing that the goal of expediting adoptions is “a legitimate and necessary objective” but that “making sexual orientation a barrier is not.”
“Being heterosexual does not demonstrate parental fitness,” the group declared on its website, adding that “being LGBT+ does not constitute parental incapacity either.” The group also pointed out the complexity of “proving” one’s sexuality: “If heterosexuality becomes a legal requirement for a single person to adopt, institutions will have to determine, in some way, whether that requirement is met.”
The group also spoke out against the anti-trans provisions of the law, saying that supporting trans kids “does not make a family an enemy of childhood.”
The adoption policy is incongruent with the fact that LGBTQ+ Ecuadorians generally enjoy widespread rights. According to Equaldex, the country has banned conversion therapy and has widespread anti-discrimination and hate crime protections. Gay marriage and gender-affirming care are both legal, bathroom access is protected, and there are no restrictions on legal gender changes for adults.
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.