Equality starts with visibility
We're clearly in election mode and with only a few hundred votes separating the two big parties in the last election, who can blame either of them for going after 'the gays'?
The Labour party seems to be doing this more tactically and strategically, with the latest move being that of raising the rainbow flag on several of their clubs to commemorate Gay Pride.
Of course, with the PL's human rights' history, and with a few Neanderthals still forming part of the party, one cannot help but wonder whether such a move is just some nicely packaged lip service; but even if it is, I welcome it.
Even if they're doing it for all the wrong reasons, even if they have absolutely no intention of raising a finger when it comes to things that matter, even if they are still holding back on the whole hog when it comes to same-sex marriage, there's no denying that visibility is an absolute necessity for equality.
Many argue that the gay fight is over, because it's illegal to persecute gays or to discriminate against them based on their sexual orientation, but, at this very moment there's a teenager somewhere crying behind a tree after being called a lady boy.
There's a 30-year-old woman who's thinking of killing herself instead of coming out to her parents.
And there's a 50 year old man who would rather 'go missing' than tell his work colleagues that he's been living with another man for years.
And whilst flags on poles and viral videos help a little, it's visibility of other gay people that helps in leaps and bounds.
People often refer to females who are visibly gay as 'butch', and even in the most liberal minds the term carries negative connotations. It connotes images of masculine looking females that straight men wouldn't approach even if their manhood depended on it.
Unfortunately, in order to be at ease in their own skin, butch women are often treated as outsiders. They get called 'Mr.' they get stared at in the streets, and no matter how old they get, their mothers will keep trying to put lipstick and earrings on them.
Growing up as a butch girl is a nightmare, because it's practically impossible for butch women to keep their sexuality hidden until they're comfortable enough to come out, but they are a Godsend to the gay community.
Visibility of regular homosexuals is more important than anything, because there's no substitute for seeing gay people living a "normal" life, reading books, having jobs, being happy, shopping, and living with their partners, by being possibly the most easily identifiable gay subgroups in the gay world, butch women raise visibility.
Just by being who they really are they are saving lives in ways they will never know.
This week the famous American TV anchor Anderson Cooper confirmed publically that he is gay. Cooper said he did not come out in his 2006 memoir, "Dispatches from the Edge," because the book was meant to be about war and not about his personal life. But now he said, "that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something—something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid. This is distressing because it is simply not true.....Visibility is important, more important than preserving my reporter's shield of privacy."
It is visibility that will help us move 'what shouldn't matter' towards 'what doesn't matter'.
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Frank Zammit
Jul 7th 2012, 01:24
Socrates one said, " Nobody does anything wrong knowingly". Let me make smoothing crustal clear, I am not saying that being gay is wrong. On the other hand, I am not saying that we should encourage people to be gay or give the wrong impression that being gay is trendy.
We live in a relatively paternalistic society, which is in my opinion, very wrong. Having said that, it does not mean that we should adopt libertinism to make up for what was, and is still wrong in our society.
Everybody knows that the Labour Party is the party that has given the Gay community the right to lagaly exist and function normally in our society. So what you implied, i.e that the PL is only patronising the gay community to gain the favour, is wrong. It is the PN that has adopted this double faced strategy, not the PL.
On the other hand, I hope that the PL can appreciate that the heterosexual community has rights too. We have the right to live in a society that can appreciate traditional values and that certain things (like marriage for example) have a value and a meaning that goes beyond solving issues like inheritance and other legal jargon
Mr Joseph Carmel Chetcuti
Jul 8th 2012, 02:36
Frank, you are arguing against yourself. Traditional values exclude gay men and lesbians. Yes, you hear rightly, the gay and lesbian movement is about demolishing traditional values whatever you mean by that.
Nobody is encouraged to be gay. Peoiple are encouraged to acept themselves as gay men and lesbians and stop pretending they are straight. Get it! I do not care what Socrates says or you say he says. I have a brain and I can use it without having to drop names. The gay movement is about changing society not merely tinkering with it.
Mr Joseph Carmel Chetcuti
Jul 6th 2012, 03:29
You write: "Visibility of regular homosexuals is more important than anything, because there's no substitute for seeing gay people living a "normal" life, reading books, having jobs, being happy, shopping, and living with their partners, by being possibly the most easily identifiable gay subgroups in the gay world, butch women raise visibility." I wholeheartedly agree. Screaming queens and bulldykes are a part of our community. As a drag queens! 'Coming out' was the key to our liberation, a strategy Australian gay men and lesbians began to adopt in 1970. Let's forget about being and looking respectable.
Mr Joseph Carmel Chetcuti
Jul 6th 2012, 03:20
Let's be clear, laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orienation in Malta are inadequate. Legislators have more work to do in this regard. How are same-sex property disputes in Malta resolved? Are they dealt with by the country's Family Court? What is the entitlement of a same-sex partner after his or her partner's death? Can a gay man or a lesbian apply to have his partner reside with him or her in Malta if that partner is not a member of the European Union? What laws are in place against private establishments that discriminate against gay men and lesbians. What mechanisms are in place to implement current legistions that purports to protect gay men and lesbians? And on, and on, and on!
Lawrence Attard
Jul 5th 2012, 16:19
Alison,
You're articles have always that spice that makes me think we are on the same wavelength. However today, if you consent, I wish to add a remark...
Being old does not mean that you are out. (reference to Neanderthals...) Younger generations should understand that what was did in the past was in the context that we were living in. so it was absolutely normal to go to school and be beaten to learn you poem by heart!!..This was practiced, s not because teachers were bad persons, but because it was the way they were taught to educate.
Mintoff is being portrayed nowadays as a monster. But to my knowledge he was the first person who started removing the idea of being gay from being deviant. In fact legislation to decriminalise gays passed under his government, well ahead of what other countries with our Christian tradition were doing. You can see a contrast with what happened last year? His approach was surely rough, but it was absolutely normal in those days, as that was practice in all the continent....
My whole argument is:
You have to judge people’s history and actions in the context that they were living; and
One party may be more open than change than others, so yes, PL’s approach towards gays may not be gimmicks after all.
Mr Joseph Carmel Chetcuti
Jul 6th 2012, 03:25
Mintoff decriminalised homosexuality in 1973. NSW in 1984. I do not accept that the PL's approach to the issue of homosexuality is one of gimmicks. That is simply PN rant. And in that PN rant I include those gay men and lesbians who put their politics before the interests of their own community. There is no way a rational gay man or lesbian should consider voting for the PN. Its liberal members of parliament have either been kicked upstairs or threatened with expulsion.
Reuben Zammit
Jul 4th 2012, 10:03
It can be said with confidence that AD has been the only consistent and unequivocally supportive party as regards lgbt rights to date
Frank Zammit
Jul 7th 2012, 01:35
Seems we are living in a different planet. The AD is now claiming that it's thanks to them that Gays have rights? God forbids that any of the two major political parties ever listens to a world they have to say.
One thing is for sure about this AD - it's the most irrelevant political organisation that ever existed in Malta, an utter waste of time.
Guido Farrugia
Jul 3rd 2012, 22:33
Brava, nothing more to add.
Guido Farrugia
Jul 3rd 2012, 22:32
Brava, nothing more to add.
Zachary Stewart
Jul 3rd 2012, 21:26
As always, spot on Alison.
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