Ecuadorian transgender parents receive death threats on their baby

Ecuador’s first transgender parents say they have received a series of messages vowing to kill their infant son. Police say they are investigating.

Diane Rodriguez and her partner Fernando Machado were married in January and announced the birth of their son Sununu in June.

Transgender couple with their son.

“Since the announcement of his birth, there have been dozens of threats on the life of our son,” said Diane. “People have threatened to kill me and Fernando too, but our first concern is for Sununu.”

Diane, who was born a man, and Fernando, who was born a woman, are undergoing “transitional” medical treatment to reverse their genders. The treatments had not started at the time of Sununu’s birth and Fernando delivered the baby naturally.

“In general, the reaction of both my family and people in general has been positive,” Fernando said. “It is the transphobic and homophobic people who are threatening to kill our son.”

She added: “We have already spoken with the authorities here in Ecuador to protect us. We have also asked for support to guarantee safety of our house. We know that the people who want to attack us are few, but we have to take the necessary assurances.”

She said despite their ordeal, they are planning to have more children, although they may adopt in future.