The two major political parties were treating gay couples as though they were in “second division” by proposing civil unions or partnerships as opposed to marriage, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Michael Briguglio said yesterday.

While both declared that sexuality should not stop a person from being eligible to adopt if deemed in the child’s best interest, they were not being clear about whether they would change the law to make this possible, he said.

Earlier this week, both Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Labour leader Joseph Muscat said that adoption should be based on the child’s best interest and not on the sexual orientation of the adoptive parents.

The Labour Party is proposing introducing civil unions while the Nationalist Party spoke about civil partnerships as part of the Cohabitation Bill.

Maltese law allows both single people and married couples to adopt. So, as things stand today, gay people can adopt if they apply as a single parent. The question arises whether a couple in a civil union or partnership will be able to adopt as a couple.

“There has to be a change in the law to make it clear. Professionals need policies and laws to guide them,” Dr Briguglio told a press conference at the Msida Marina.

AD, he said, supported civil marriage for gay couples because it believed that everyone should have the same right to marry, irrespective of their sexuality.

AD’s spokeswoman on social policy, Angele Deguara, said that her party backed the position of the Malta Gay Rights Movement on gay marriage. “Gay people should have the same rights as heterosexual couples and this includes the right to marry, undergo in-vitro fertilisation and adopt,” she said.

Dr Briguglio said he was glad to see that the PN and the PL were discussing the subject and had improved their policies on the subject but both still retained discriminatory policies because gay couples were being treated differently to heterosexual couples.