Last May, in Paris, Brian Schembri and I were wandering through the maze of avenues in one of Europe’s most celebrated cemeteries, Pere Lachaise. It is one of Brian’s favourite haunts as a great many composers, such as Chopin and Rossini, are buried there. We stumbled upon the outstandingly lovely Epstein monument to Oscar Wilde and, yes, it was in an awful state, covered in graffiti and lipstick kisses as far as the average arm and lips could reach while some vandal had hacked off the privates of the Assyrian type angel that stretches across it. It was pathetic.

...the way to true liberalism is now open...- Kenneth Zammit Tabona

I read last week that since then the monument has been cleaned and restored to its pristine glory.

The story of Oscar Wilde reverberates through modern history for two practically unrelated reasons.

The first, of course, being one of the greatest authors who ever lived, creator of Lady Bracknell and Dorian Gray, and, above all, the writer of moral tales for children (and adults) as poignant as that of The Selfish Giant.

The second because he is considered to be a hero because of the case against the Marquess of Queensbury, which he lost and was sent to prison for.

There are various ways in which this infamous episode in the history of modern literature can be viewed. One must remember that it was not the notoriously unstable Marquess who sued Wilde but the other way round, much against the advice of Wilde’s well-wishers.

It seems as if Wilde was hell-bent on making himself a martyr as because of the prevalent laws concerning “the love that dare not speak its name”, he was bound to lose and suing the immensely rich and powerful Marquess, father of Wilde’s beloved “Bosie”, for libel, was tantamount to social suicide and criminal prosecution. So much so that Wilde’s children changed their name to Holland and it was these same Holland descendants who attended the ceremony to commemorate the cleaning and restoration of the monument at Pere Lachaise.

We have come a long way from the days when homosexuals were hunted down by using pretty policemen as live bait when, of course, it was politically expedient to do so. Yet, although in European society today being gay bears little or no stigma anymore, not so far away in certain African and Middle Eastern states homosexuals are tortured and killed in public execution.

The UN resolution to decriminalise homosexuality was passed only a couple of years ago and, there again, by the skin of its teeth as the Vatican, till the very last minute, was going to vote against. So if anyone of you thinks that all is well in the state of gay Denmark you had better think again.

In America there are groups, sad to say, Christian ones, that maintain that Western acceptance as opposed to tolerance of gay lifestyles and rights has led to extreme decadence and, hence, have concluded, with a great big dollop of fevered imagination, that the gay community is somehow responsible for the ills of the world: wars, famines, floods, earthquakes; you name it. We gays have done it!

In sunny Malta, we have long ago learned to close an eye and take Mrs Patrick Campbell’s attitude to homosexuality, especially if it concerned rich British rampollini living in seclusion in remote villages in Malta and Gozo. In the past, we were not so accepting of our own kith and kin being “that way inclined”, however, most parents and relations of gay people I know have a special place in their hearts for them and there is very little point for anyone to live a double life or jump ship anymore as was done in the past.

This is, may I remind you all, very recent. Therefore, the proposals to make the lot of gay couples more bearable by instituting gay partnership laws as such and not camouflaging them as cohabitation laws required a true volte face by the incumbent Nationalist Party, especially after the divorce defeat, the reverberations of which will be felt for decades.

I am very confident that the way to true liberalism is now open and am saddened by the fact that so many people got hurt, quite unnecessarily, over the divorce issue. Being compared to Beelzebub was simply not nice, was it? Certain correspondents, types like the rhadamanthine Joe Zammit of Paola, were simply too extreme in their fire and brimstone condemnations.

It looks as if both the PN and the people of Malta have learned another great lesson in social ethics. It now essential to accept and not just tolerate and, as such, a gay person must have equal and inalienable rights as anyone else. Nothing less is acceptable.

I will, however, only begin to think that we have made great strides when the Church advertises Lenten or Advent retreats for gay people as at present there are not even any retreats for single people let alone gay couples. The Church may not approve of gay liaisons or gay lifestyles but has it ever in its 2000-year-old history reached out to the gay world and tried to comprehend it? At worst, it condemns it and, at best, treats it as if it does not exist although I have known of a number of priests who have tried to tread a very precarious high wire and who are responsible for the maintenance of an excellent relationship and understanding of what being gay is all about.

These are the unsung heroes of our society, the saints who, like Christ Himself, believe in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican and whose lives are an example to us all.

kzt@onvol.net

The author is president of the recently-formed Friends of the National Museum of Fine Arts.