Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said
Saturday that gay couples in a civil union can include their status
on national ID cards.
Under the Ecuador Constitution ratified
in 2008, gay couples are recognized with civil unions, granting them
all of the rights of marriage except for joint adoption. The
document also reserves marriage for heterosexual couples.
Previously only the marriages of
heterosexual couples could be listed on the state-issued
identification document.
“Gays, lesbians, transgender and
transsexual people have the full constitutional right to include
their civil union on their ID card,” Correa said Saturday, the AFP
reported.
“If there was any doubt about
heterosexual or same-sex civil unions being put on national ID cards,
there is none any more,” he added.
Correa, however, reiterated his
opposition to marriage equality and gay parenting.
“I have never offered to support”
same-sex marriage, the Roman Catholic president said.