Nationalist Party Whip and newly appointed spokesperson for Civil Liberties David Agius is convinced that, through the wording used in the Marriage Equality Bill, any lobby group can stop Mother’s Day from being celebrated by claiming discrimination.

The Nationalist Party has already made it clear that it will vote in favour of the Marriage Equality Bill which will introduce same sex marriage. However, the speech given in Parliament on Monday evening by David Agius opened a window into some of the issues that the PN might have with the passing of this bill.

Agius and other PN speakers mentioned the change in terminology introduced in the bill, which according to the Whip, are ‘ridiculous’. 

“For God’s sake, the bill is proposing the total abolishment of the words mother and father, husband and wife, even brothers and sister,” he told The Malta Independent when reached for a comment.

The substitution of Article 15 of the Marriage Act will grant marriage equality to homosexual couples by removing the terms ‘wife’, ‘husband’, ‘him’, and ‘her’ and replacing them with gender neutral terms.

The word ‘mother’ will be replaced by ‘the person who gave you birth’, Agius explained while husband and wife will be generalised into the word ‘spouse’. “Even the words brother and sister will also be removed to be replaced with siblings.”

Some of those people who followed parliament on Monday evening and heard Agius’ rant, resorted to Facebook arguing that the MP was almost implying that the law would make it illegal to call your parents with ‘mum’ and ‘dad’. Asked to state if he truly believes this is the case, David Agius said yes. “I was not exaggerating. You cannot call your parents mum or dad because it is not in the law,” he added.

“Let me give you a more concrete example. A school teacher wants to send a letter to the child’s father. If the parent decides to protest and claim discrimination, he or she will have every right to do so.”

He said that what he said on Monday can happen if some lobby group decides to challenge traditions such as Mother’s Day. “The words mother and father will now be blatantly abolished from our vocabulary,” he said.

The PN has included the equal sex marriage in the election manifesto and as Agius explained, the Nationalist Party will still be voting in favour of the bill. He hopes, however, that the changes proposed by the PN are included in committee stage.

But what will happen if the PN minority does not manage to convince the seven seat Labour Party government majority?

David Agius said that he will personally commit to have these changes removed by a future PN government. “Let me be clear. We will not revoke the Marriage Equality Bill. Of course not. But we will make sure that these definitions are expanded not reduced.”

The PN is proposing that instead of removing ‘mother’ and ‘father’ from the bill, they are added with ‘parent’. Instead of removing ‘husband’ and ‘wife’, they are included with ‘spouse’.

Reports suggest that a small number of members in the PN parliamentary group wanted a free vote. Sources who spoke with this paper mentioned Claudio Grech, Edwin Vassallo and Carm Mifsud Bonnici among others.

The vote on the gay marriage bill will be taken on Wednesday 5 July.