Yesterday Malta became the first European country to recognize gender identity in its constitution. Last evening the Maltese parliament passed a constitutional amendment which included gender identity as a protected ground, allowed transgender people who have changed their legal gender to legally enter into a marriage, and introduced civil unions for couples of all gender combinations with "nearly the same rights as married couples."
Oh, yeah…I guess more people would be interested in the latter event. Malta now becomes one of 21 European countries which legally recognize same-sex couples and their families.
These are fantastic news. It has been a long way for Malta, and we congratulate the activists who have fought over all the years for the recognition and protection of transgender people.
—Julia Ehrt, Transgender Europe executive director
The Maltese amendment is seen as a call for all other countries to lift the state of transgender humanity out of the dark shadows of unenlightened prejudice.
Countries must say loud and clear: we stand proudly by our transgender population. We need more trans champions like Malta.
—Richard Köhler, TGEU
Past Maltese governments have fought for years to deny the right of Joanne Cassar to marry because she is transsexual. A Nationalist Party leader apologized for that behavior in 2013.
The Parliament also strengthened the anti-discrimination law to better protect transgender people against discrimination.
A procedure for gender recognition by the state is currently under preparation, modeled on the Argentinian Gender Identity Act. Prior Maltese policy has called for forced sterilization of its transgender citizens before allowing a legal change of gender and has not allowed transgender people to marry.
We urge the Maltese lawmakers now to live up to the high expectations and come up with the best law possible. Transgender persons, who have been so long the odd ones out, deserve quick, transparent and accessible procedures to have their identities recognized.
—Köhler
When opposition MP Claudette Buttigieg advanced a private member’s bill calling for sexual orientation to be listed as a protected ground, the government called for extending the protection to include gender identity. No government and opposition MPs voted against adding "sexual orientation" to Articles 32 and 45 of the Constitution, which list the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals which are protected by the state.
The opposition Nationalist Party abstained from the vote because of reservations about gay adoptions. The legislation legalizes joint adoptions by same-sex couples.
Malta is now more liberal and more European, and it has given equality to all its people.
—Labour Prime Minister Joseph Muscat
Not everyone was celebrating. Pastor Gordon Manché and his River of "Love" Christian Fellowship presented parliament with a petition with 10,000 signatures opposing adoption by same-sex couples earlier in the month. It is unclear if the group will organize a call for a referendum.
The amendment will become law when it is signed by Maltese President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, who has said she has no problem with signing the bill…as her predecessor reportedly did, citing "moral grounds."
Malta Gay Rights Movement coordinator Gabi Calleja described the approval as “a huge step forward for same-sex couples and their children.”
It is not so much the introduction of some radical principle or the imposition of new values, but the affirmation of the basic principle that all persons should be treated equally simply by virtue of their humanity.
I am however convinced that in the end, homophobia and prejudice will not prevail.
—Calleja
The civil unions bill, which grants same-sex partners a status legally equivalent to natural marriage, was brought forward under the new Labour Party government after the 2013 elections by Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs, and Civil Liberties Helena Dalli. During the government’s consultation on the bill, Dalli indicated that changes were also on the way to the country’s schools curriculum that she said currently included “outdated” materials that included only the natural family as an ideal.
Dalli said the failure to include same-sex or "transgender" family groupings was something that could be overcome in the long term and “encouraged” educators to “challenge existing perceptions and traditional stereotypes.” She said "more inclusive" material should be adopted in the future, especially in primary schools where children could be "formed at an early, impressionable age."
My generation had to unlearn much of what we were taught at school when we realised it no longer corresponded to the reality of the society in which we lived. I hope that future generations will not have to go through the same process.
—Helena Dalli
Malta is an overwhelmingly Catholic country, but a recent survey found that only 44% of students at the University of Malta opposed divorce and nearly 75% approved of pre-marital sex and unmarried cohabitation.
It is reported that 85.8% of Maltese women of child-bearing age regularly use some form of artificial contraception.