Vance had already begun to understand and accept her identity as a lesbian, but said that this incident "was not only a discovery of my homosexuality, but also society's reaction to it.

[5] Vance was appointed to the Cabinet by President Rafael Correa in January 2012, after her predecessor David Chiriboga resigned amid concerns that he was unable to fix the problems in Ecuador's national healthcare system.

[7] Vance announced her intent to shut down a system of religious "clinics" which said they could "cure" gays and particularly lesbians of their homosexuality and which had been reported to torture inmates physically and psychologically and to hold them against their will.

This led to the closure of thirty such clinics in September 2011[7] and a plan, presented by Chiriboga before his resignation, to continue the work.

[9] Soon after Vance was appointed to the Cabinet, the ministry raided three of the "torture clinics" near Quito and rescued dozens of women.