The Nationalist Party, several months ago, announced it was seeking to legislate in favour of homosexual rights through a cohabitation act. But those who had held high hopes that the government would at long last seize the bull by the horns and come out with a truly progressive piece of legislation were sorely disappointed at its unveiling on Tuesday.

And after so many decades in which Malta has been a backwater when it comes to homosexual rights, the homosexual community, tentatively hopeful as it was, was effectively slapped in the face by the legislation itself and also by the government’s disparaging attitude toward homosexual couples and families as evidenced by comments made by the minister launching the legislation.

Of course, any expectation of a proposal for same-sex marriage from this government would have been an absurd notion, even in this day and age, and perhaps it was too much to hope for that the government would seek to legislate for homosexual rights through the advent of civil unions. But what the government has proposed, so-called civil cohabitation partnerships, falls well short of expectations.

In producing the proposed legislation, the government has perhaps tested the waters for fear of upsetting conservatives among its ranks, while simultaneously attempting to appease its liberal voters. But in so doing, it has once again failed to satisfy anyone.

But despite the fact that it has disappointed, it must still be acknowledged that the proposed legislation is a first step, a first step that has been overdue for far too long now. It proposes making cohabitants each others’ next of kin for all intents and purposes, sorts out economic dependence and other related issues that those cohabitating commonly face and seeks to provide for cohabitant rights and obligations in cases in which a contract as contemplated by the proposed law has been entered into, and also when it has not.

These all constitute a good first step in drafting such legislation, but that is unfortunately where this bill stopped, a huge disappointment not only to the country’s homosexual community but to most of the more liberal-minded population.

Without same sex marriage, some European countries have introduced the civil union concept as a way of giving homosexual couples the same rights and status accorded to married couples, and Malta appears to be forgoing its chance to do the same.

Justice Minister Chris Said, in unveiling the legislation on Tuesday, made it abundantly clear that the government has no intention of placing same-sex relationships on the same level as marriage, explaining that the bill is based on what the government believes is right and acceptable to society.

There is a fundamental error in the statement, which is that the government should not be drafting legislation on the basis of what is acceptable to society. It should be the government that should blaze the trail by explaining why such an important civil right is right and why it should be acceptable to society.

Perhaps the government would have done so, if it believed as much. But as this newspaper reported yesterday, the government does not consider a gay couple to be a family, which pretty much explains why the proposed legislation has not gone nearly as far as it should have in legislating for full homosexual rights and placing same sex relationships on the same footing as a heterosexual marriage.

Just as divorce was a civil right that has now rightly been accorded to a minority of the population, it is high time that the civil rights accorded to homosexual couples are addressed. At this juncture, it is important that we get things right. Although homosexuality, along with adultery, was decriminalised in Malta in the 1970s, the country’s legal structures themselves have been unquestionably discriminatory towards homosexuals for decades, and the bill presented does not go far enough in making amends.

There are now two ways in which the legislation as presented could be changed.

Public consultation on the proposals runs until the end of September and everyone with the notion of full civil liberties at heart is encouraged to supply their two cents’ worth. Matters could then take an interesting turn as amendments, either by the Opposition or the government’s effective coalition partner Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, are expected when this version of the legislation comes up for parliamentary debate in October.

It is hoped that through these two exercises, the legislation will be overhauled to better reflect today’s realities and to bring legislation governing homosexual couples up to speed with the 21st century.