A lesbian couple in Ecuador has filed a lawsuit challenging the
nation's laws limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.
Pamela Troya and Gabriela Correa on Monday applied for and were
denied a marriage license in Quito, the nation's capital.
According to the AP, Ramiro Roman, the couple's lawyer, said in a
statement that he had “formally started a lawsuit … aimed at
recognizing the rights of every person to equal access to marriage.”
Troya, the head of the LGBT group Igualdad de Derechos YA! (Equal
Rights Now!) told reporters that she was going to marry her partner
of four years if she had to wait 80 years, “because the point is
not whether there will be equal civil marriage – there will be –
the point is how long it will take to get it.”
In 2008, Ecuadorians approved a new constitution which recognizes
“the family in its various forms” and bans gay and lesbian
couples from marriage and adoption.
Troya grabbed headlines in May when she got into a Twitter
skirmish with President Rafael Correa.
“What a shame that you make a show of your prejudices that only
reinforce discrimination that exists for #LGBTI,” Troya messaged
Correa in response to his objection to marriage equality. “This is
your revolution?”
“No problem: with the next local elections, we'll have a popular
referendum, OK?” Correa shot back. “We will see if these are
[only] my dogmas and prejudices.”