All families are equal – Muscat
Government should only interfere in relationships to curb abuse – Said
All families are equal and politicians have the duty to ensure there are “no second-class families” in Malta, Labour Party leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday.
Speaking during a Labour Party meeting in Xewkija, Dr Muscat said that in 10 to 15 years’ time people would look back and see that his party was right.
In the 1960s Labour Party members were courageous enough to support the separation of Church and State, during some of the darkest days in Maltese history and at a time when gay couples could be jailed. If they stood up for people’s rights back then, then “so should we” today, he added.
There should be no second-class families in Malta and all families should be treated equally, Dr Muscat insisted. He made reference to comments made by Justice Minister Chris Said during the launch of the Cohabitation Bill last week.
Dr Said had said the government did not want to put cohabitation on the same level as a family constituted in marriage.
Yesterday, Dr Muscat said “politicians” had no right to decide who was a family and who was not.
Last week, Dr Muscat labelled the minister “homophobic”. Dr Said told The Sunday Times that when he introduced the Cohabitation Bill he was speaking within a legal context and Labour was trying to twist his words.
In a statement, yesterday, Dr Said said he believed that the relationship between two people, even if of the same sex, was something precious for those living it. He also believed that this relationship was their family nucleus even if they were not married.
He agreed that the government should not interfere in a couple’s relationship, unless to step in to curb abuse. The Cohabitation Bill regulated relationships that were outside of marriage irrespective of whether the couple was gay or not.
Dr Muscat also spoke of how a new Labour government would aim to create jobs and a strong economy in Gozo based on tourism and manufacturing.
He said the government was in crisis and was “incompetent” when it came to financial and economic strategies. He added that, over the last four years, the Administration had failed to meet its goals.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was insisting that deficit targets would be met but the deficit had only increased, Dr Muscat said.
To meet targets, Dr Gonzi would probably repeat what he did last year and reduce capital expenditure, which was necessary for the country to progress, Dr Muscat added.
When the EU had told Malta it had to reduce its budget by several millions, the “cowardly” government did not have the guts to face the public. The news was announced in a one-sentence statement to the media, the Labour leader said.
Now the government was doing the same and did not announce a second set of cuts to the public, he said ominously, without, however, giving more details.
When pressed, a Labour spokesman said he could not provide the details yesterday.
In a statement, the Nationalist Party said Dr Muscat had carried out a partisan attack despite a number of economic successes. If the government had taken on board Dr Muscat’s proposals, such as not joining the EU and eurozone, and acted similarly to Cyprus, then there would be mass unemployment.
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Alfred Falzon
Sep 3rd 2012, 15:22
As a Maltese citizen proud of Malta's pillar of society, I consider it unwise and inconsiderate of the Leader of the Oppostion Dr Joseph Muscat to speak in such a way as to define the notion of family life as a question of personal interpretation.
No, Dr Muscat, a family is made up of a man and a woman who either have kids, may adopt children if they so wish in accordance with the law or remain childless due to circumstances best known to them.
A man and a man, a woman and a woman cannot marry each other, cannot beget children and cannot ensure the future of humanity through an unholy so-called "wedlock" that goes against Nature!!
If that's what the PL wants to include in its electoral manifesto just to please "God and the devil", then you and your Party can count me and MOST Maltese fellow citizens out!!
A forward-looking Party is one that promotes a sane society rather than one doomed to self-destruction!
All potential PL candidates should make it a point to nip this proposal in the bud before it is too late!!
Remember that the Party and Party Leader are NOT supreme and that tiny minorities cannot impose their will on the great majority!
Alfred A. Falzon
Michael Seychell
Sep 3rd 2012, 14:10
Dr. J. Muscat - How can you expect voters to believe you when you talk according to the occasion, and either you forget what you have already siad on a particular subject or else you treat your voters as imbeciles.
You have on two different occasions stated on the popular programme Xarabank that for you gay couples cannot be considered as 'family' and yet are now stating that politicians have no right to dictate what a family is.
You must keep in mind that people, more so the undecided voters, tend to keep in mind what politicians say on important matters such as the cohabitation law. May I remind you that you have also stated more than once that you do not agree that gays should ever be married.
Keep in mind that most people today can use the internet and all they have to do is search Xarabank, and see whether what I have just written is the truth or not.
We will soon be having a general election and when the time comes you have to come out loud and clear on how you will manage the country - if God forbid - you will be our Prime Minister.
Michael Seychell Tal-Pieta
John Azzopoardi
Sep 3rd 2012, 13:33
WE ar always told we are all equal, but in reality that is not a true statement and never will be. Rich and poor, brown, white and black.........No we are not all equal.
Ms T Scicluna
Sep 3rd 2012, 15:37
we are not equal because a plane would not wait for us!
J.C. Borg
Sep 3rd 2012, 12:37
"Dr Muscat said “politicians” had no right to decide who was a family and who was not."
Can Dr Muscat enlighten us who is going to enact laws, if not politicians (in Parliament)????
Maria Borg
Sep 3rd 2012, 12:07
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 16.
"(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State."
The word family may be used in many different situations, as mr pavia explained below, but the the natural and fundamental group unit of society entitled to protection by society and the State as mandated by the Universal Human Rights is not referring to all forms of family and thereby the natural and fundamental group unit of society is a special form of family that should not be equated with every other family forms.
Ms. P.M Graham
Sep 3rd 2012, 11:22
"All families are equal and politicians have the duty to ensure there are “no second-class families” in Malta, Labour Party leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday."
All people are equal and the sooner some people grasp that the better.
I feel quite sad for anyone who has to feel superior to another human being, more so when they use God to define their superiority.
C Muscat
Sep 3rd 2012, 10:56
Jekk fiz-zwieg kollox l-istess allura in-natura ghandha tkun ukoll l-istess ghal kulhadd mhux ir-ragel mod u l-mara mod iehor.
JM ser isib mod kif in-nisa u l-irgiel jigu l-istess anke fil-gisem?!
Joseph Pavia
Sep 3rd 2012, 11:31
JM fuq familja beda jitkellem u mhux zwieg. Dik it-tahwida hija spin tan-NET li int u ohrajn li jaraw bhalek blajtuha, forsi ukoll bil-pjacir.
Il-kelma familja ghanda hafna tifsiriet u wahda minnhom toqghod sew ghal min irrid jifforma familja bejn tnejn jew iktar avolja jistghu jkunu ta' l-istess sess.
Ara d-dizzjunarju xi jghid biex iffisser il-kelma familja:
fam·i·ly
[fam-uh-lee, fam-lee] Show IPA noun, plural fam·i·lies, adjective
noun
1.
a. a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not: the traditional family.
b. a social unit consisting of one or more adults together with the children they care for: a single-parent family.
2. the children of one person or one couple collectively: We want a large family.
3. the spouse and children of one person: We're taking the family on vacation next week.
4. any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins: to marry into a socially prominent family.
5. all those persons considered as descendants of a common progenitor.
6. Chiefly British . approved lineage, especially noble, titled, famous, or wealthy ancestry: young men of family.
7. a group of persons who form a household under one head, including parents, children, and servants.
8. the staff, or body of assistants, of an official: the office family.
9. a group of related things or people: the family of romantic poets; the halogen family of elements.
10. a group of people who are generally not blood relations but who share common attitudes, interests, or goals and, frequently, live together: Many hippie communes of the sixties regarded themselves as families.
11. a group of products or product models made by the same manufacturer or producer.
12. Biology . the usual major subdivision of an order or suborder in the classification of plants, animals, fungi, etc., usually consisting of several genera.
13. Slang . a unit of the Mafia or Cosa Nostra operating in one area under a local leader.
14. Linguistics . the largest category into which languages related by common origin can be classified with certainty: Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, and Austronesian are the most widely spoken families of languages. Compare stock ( def. 12 ) , subfamily ( def. 2 ) .
C Muscat
Sep 3rd 2012, 12:14
@ Joseph Pavia
Jien smajt il clip u parti mir-ripetizzjoni tad-diskors fuq one.
Il-mod kif tkellem hekk fhimt; jekk fhimt hazin niskuza ruhi.
John L Galea
Sep 3rd 2012, 13:57
@ Joseph Pavia: X'tistenna minn nies bhal C Muscat jahasra. M'hemmx x'taghmel mohhhom ma jwassalx hafna iwassal biss san-NET.
Maria Borg
Sep 3rd 2012, 16:02
Sur Pavia,
If you're right and number 13 and 8 of your list are families and if Muscat is right in saying that all families are equal than the logical conclusion is that a nuclear family (mother, father and children) is equal to a group of work colleagues and equal to a Mafia!!
Great!
Please choose the reason of your report below: