“More than one in 10 respondents claimed they had been subjected to some form of violence due to their sexual orientation. Half of respondents, on the other hand, claimed they had experienced some sort of harassment. These figures take an even more disturbing form when one considers the amount of respondents who reported repeated incidents of violence and harassment, as well as the fact that in some cases the perpetrators were family members, or worse still, members of the Police Corps, whose duty it is to protect every citizen from such degrading treatment.
“Discrimination at the work place is rife.” 39.5 per cent say they were harassed at work because they were known or suspected to be lesbian, gay or bisexual. The most common form of harassment reported was jokes or teasing (60 cases out of 200 respondents). Cases of homophobic abuse and aggressive questions numbered 40 and 25 respectively. There were also 20 cases of sexual harassment.
Most gays and lesbians will agree that society is more accepting, or at least more tolerant of their sexual orientation, but there are at least three areas that continue to cause concern. The first is legal and shows the government’s reluctance to accept homosexuality entirely in the gaps it stubbornly left in last year’s Employment and Industrial Relations Act. The second is the Catholic condemnation of sexual expression by gays and lesbians. The third is the lack of protection of gays and lesbians at school.
Malta fails to follow
EU directive
EU Directive 2000/78/EC establishes a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation, banning, in Article 1, discrimination on grounds of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation as regards employment and occupation. The Employment and Industrial Relations Act only puts a ban on sexual discrimination and sexual harassment. Sexual orientation discrimination is only covered through a legal notice issued under the Act, and only after incessant campaigning by MGRM during the drafting of the Act and since it has come into force.
Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM) international secretary Christian Attard says: “We want a full and proper implementation of the directive, with a specific ban on harassment due to sexual orientation at the place of work.”
The suspicious gap in the law existing before the above-mentioned legal notice came into force had also been noted by Odile Quintin – head of D. G for Employment and Social Affairs for the EU, who said of Malta, in May 2003... “there should be implementation of the anti-discrimination directives of the EU, and age and sexual orientation should be specifically mentioned”.
On the same lines Christian Attard says that in accordance with the EU directive, our law should ban discrimination by workers’ associations both as regards membership and benefits offered on grounds of sexual orientation.”
Finally, also in line with the same directive, “there should be a shift in the burden of proof from employee to employer so that if the victim provides facts from which it can be presumed that discrimination has taken place at the place of work, it is for the employer to prove that discrimination did not occur.”
n Long term changes needed
The MGRM would like inheritance rights to be amended so that a person can inherit from a gay or lesbian partner if the latter dies without a will; access to housing for gays; fiscal benefits – so that gay partners can declare their income jointly as married heterosexuals can; visitation rights in hospital – as it is relatives hostile to a gay partner can prevent the latter from visiting his/her partner in cases where the latter cannot express his will.
n Education
A considerable number of cases involving bullying at schools were also reported in the gay rights publication, “drawing our attention once again to the urgent need of ensuring a safe environment for all students, irrespective of sexual orientation, in all educational establishments,” says Christian. He added that he had only recently heard of a case where a teacher was reprimanded by the head for promoting tolerance of homosexuals in the classroom.
The Malta Independent on Sunday asked Malta Union of Professional Psychologists president Dr Paul Bartolo whether different sexual orientations are taught in a positive way in the classroom. “As the Minister of Education stated in our recent publication Homosexuality: Challenging the Stigma, facilitating the development of a healthy sexual identity, be it heterosexual or homosexual, is one important aspect of Personal and Social Education (PSE) sessions that each secondary school class has at least once a week. This is not only aimed at helping the adolescent with a homosexual orientation in the same way as it helps those with a heterosexual orientation to develop a healthy self-identity, but also, to help all students appreciate diversity.” However, although he expressed optimism that things would improve in schools thanks to a conference held on the subject, attended also by PSE teachers, he also said “I have no doubt that in our schools, as also still abroad, there is still a lot of homophobia resulting from lack of or distorted knowledge about a minority group.”
The reluctance of teachers to dwell on homosexuality in a positive way may have something to do with the Church’s strong position in this regard.
n The Catholic Church
The Catholic Church accepts gays as long as they are celibate, on the grounds that the Bible specifically condemns the homosexual act. As a certain Martha Clark Cummings pointed out, there are many things the Bible tells us to do which are no longer accepted by the Catholic Church.. See box in fifth column in this page.
Not all priests it seems, accept Vatican teaching on the matter. The Malta Independent on Sunday put two questions to Rev Fr Mark Montebello OP
What is your personal opinion on the Church's ruling on homosexuality?
The Vatican's declarations and denunciations are uncharitable, to say the least. This alone makes them already contrary to the faith. Secondly, most pronouncements and texts issued by the Vatican on the subject reveal a disturbing insensitivity to the human race. The language of exclusion that is used in such documents is unworthy of the understanding and sympathy that Vatican Council II encouraged the Church to adopt. Thirdly, when reading through most Vatican assertions and declarations regarding homosexuality, I seem to notice that most positions of the Vatican’s elaborate argumentation, especially those that are claimed to be philosophical in nature, to be mostly quite superficial. No distinction is made between different forms of homosexuality, and no honest regard is given to upright and earnest homosexual Catholics. I plainly do not agree with such Vatican practices. I do agree wholeheartedly that such methods continue to incite hatred towards homosexuals, and contribute very much to the chronic misunderstanding of them.
Is the Church position on homosexuality really justified biblically?
The question has to seen in the context of the whole interpretation of sexual matters by most Catholic theologians. The point is that all sexual relations have mostly been seen as evil. Sexual relations were only, and exclusively, tolerated in view of procreation. And I here use the term ‘tolerated’ legitimately since the rule had ever been to glorify and lionise virginity. In my view the whole Catholic understanding of sexual matters smacks of a millennial misconstrued appreciation. This shows especially in the reading, and the decidedly unilateral and damning interpretation, of biblical texts.
If we were going to accept Biblical teachings we would also have to
consider the items below.
The Bible Says
Wives must be submissive to their husbands (I Peter 3:1)
Women are forbidden to teach men (I Timothy 2:12)
Women are forbidden to wear gold or pearls (I Timothy 2:9)
Women are forbidden to wear clothing that pertains to a man (Deuteronomy 22:5)
Shaving is forbidden (Leviticus 19:27)
Wearing clothing of more than one fabric is forbidden (Leviticus 19:19)
The penalty for adultery is death by stoning (Deuteronomy 22:22)
Finally it helps to remind people of the little-remembered statement by Luke 12:57. Jesus said “Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?”
Current thinking on homosexuality
- Dr Paul Bartolo -
“Homosexuality, in psychology and psychiatry, is regarded as another form of sexual orientation and not a disorder. That means homosexuals are not to be considered ‘abnormal’ but rather a normal part of diversity of sexual orientation. The concern of professionals is therefore how to make sure that, given that people with a homosexual orientation are a minority group – generally estimated to be around 10 per cent of the total population, they are regarded and treated with respect like the heterosexual majority. The question of whether a person is born homosexual or otherwise is understood thus: Any aspect of human behaviour is a result of a number of different and complex factors and there is no reason why sexual orientation should be otherwise.
Two gays speak out
• Barbara
I always felt different and was a ‘tomboy’ as a girl. At Junior College I had a crush on a friend and did everything to please her. But it took me some time to accept I was a lesbian. I was in denial and had a boyfriend. It took me two years to admit how I felt, I was afraid I was abnormal, an alien and the first person I came out with, was a gay friend. I was afraid at first of losing friends, but none of them had problems accepting me. I am now fully comfortable with my sexual orientation and have a new partner. I have a part-time job and some of my colleagues know, including one of the managers, but they never tease me, though sometimes they pass comments about gay clients. I was and am religious but never saw myself as a sinner, because God created diversity, and being good cannot create something bad in itself. God tells us to love unconditionally and sex is an expression of love. I haven’t actually told my parents I am gay but they know I am a member of the (MGRM) and that I go to gay bars with gay people. They like my friends. Their attitude, especially my mother’s attitude to gays has changed. My brother knows and so do my lecturers. My brother was homophobic but his girlfriend brought him round and now he accepts me. I think there is more acceptance socially than there used to be. But it would help if gay role models like politicians, media people and Church clergy came out.
• Alex
I started to feel different in my teens when all the boys started being attracted to girls and I wasn’t, but I didn’t realise at first that I was gay.
At 17 I began to suspect but I denied it. In fact I had a girlfriend for two-and-a-half years. I finally acknowledged my sexual orientation when I was 21 and the first thing I did was to visit the site Gay Malta. I have been in a relationship for a year. I first came out with a friend who had told me he was gay. Then I came out with my sister who had had suspicions for some time. Finally I came out with my mother who now really likes my boyfriend and cooks for him when he comes home. At work, although I never came out, the managers guessed I was gay and for a time they used to harass me verbally. I hated it at first, and even thought of changing jobs but I was happy with my work, and was afraid a new job might be even worse. So I stuck it out, and the harassment has stopped. I never was much of a Church goer, but the Church’s stand does bother me.