Transgender people in Ecuador finally cast vote according to their gender identity

Ecuadorean transgender people on Sunday voted for the first time according to their chosen gender, in what activists say are signs of progress in the socially conservative and Catholic Andean nation.

In Ecuador, men and women wait in separate lines to cast their ballots, which for years created uncomfortable moments for transgender voters who had to queue up according to their biological sex.

"The rumors would start, and the looks," said LGBT activist Mariasol Mite, 32, who changed her ID description from "sex: male" to "gender: female" last year.

Fears of harassment were such that voters would sometimes send their . . .