“There was a time when we used to import laws and legislation, but now we are exporters to the rest of Europe when it comes to LGBTIQ laws," Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli said today while addressing a press conference discussing three years of consistent effort on LGBTIQ equality.
Malta’s government has been considered a trail blazer in terms of LGBTIQ legislation, starting first with the Civil Union bill and then the Gender Identity bill which has been considered ground-breaking worldwide.
The latter was unanimously approved so as to provide for the recognition and registration of the gender of a person and to regulate the effects of such a change. The bill also provides for the recognition and protection of the sex characteristics of a person.
Dr Dalli said that Belgium has even asked the government for a Memorandum of Understanding to model new legislation regarding equal rights based on current Maltese legislation on the topic.
The Minister also added that the government realised that previous legislations were sorely lacking in any action regarding equality for people of the LGBTIQ community saying that “no government should discriminate, especially if we truly believe that we are all born equal.
Dr Dalli went on to say that when someone wants to change something, then consultation is required not only from experts in the field, but from people who have personal experience of the specific issues which arise. “This is how we got to civil union and then gender identity.”