I would be doing a disservice to people with issues on gender identity if I were to say that this is a very serious matter. It is more than that. It is tragic for those who have to live in a society in which persons who can and should help them, do not even want to empathise with their reality, to say the least.
From the Opposition benches, Labour had criticised the previous government for not bringing up for discussion in Parliament the draft Bill on gender identity.
It was presented as a Private Member’s Bill by Evarist Bartolo, then shadow minister for civil liberties. The legislature came to an end but Bartolo’s draft law was not shown the light of the House of Representatives.
The Bill should now be presented to Parliament shortly.
Related to this matter, the Government is presenting an amendment to the Private Member’s Bill we started discussing last Wednesday, as moved by Opposition MP Claudette Buttigieg.
The Bill is about introducing in our Constitution the protection from discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.
The Government is saying that we must also include gender identity. As minister for civil liberties, I had requested the Law Commissioner to include protection against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity in his work on Constitutional reform. Since we will be amending this section of the Constitution earlier, as this Government immediately took on board the member of the Opposition’s Private Member’s Bill, it makes sense to introduce both concepts as originally proposed.
Although we are talking about a minority, it is of the essence that we highlight and address these critical and delicate situations.
Matters related to human rights are always a cause for concern but I got even closer to the predicament surrounding gender identity-related issues during the early period of this legislature.
This when we were working on bringing to an end the Joanne Cassar saga. Obviously, when you get involved in a case personally, you understand more the realities of the situation of the persons concerned.
We were negotiating an out-of-court settlement after Cassar had to seek her rights at the European Court of Human Rights.
She had to do so because the previous government kept refusing to amend the law so that she may enjoy the rights she was eligible for as a woman, after she underwent gender reassignment surgery, even though the Maltese courts ruled in her favour. The Government chose to appeal instead.
This experience helped me appreciate further the plight of transgender persons.
In these circumstances, you do realise that what this minority and their families are made to go through, not least because of prejudices and a lack of understanding, is indeed shameful.
On the same subject, I remember the call from a mother who phoned me up to say that she was glad that we were helping Cassar but also asked what will we be doing for her daughter who cannot undergo gender reassignment surgery and, thus, for official purposes remains a man? A young woman trapped in the body of a man. I told her that we shall be presenting the Gender Identity Bill to address this reality.
The parents of a transgender child have also recently come forward with the social and administrative problems she already encounters in her young life.
We must give our full support no matter how small the minority.
Thus, legislating on sexual orientation and stopping there is not enough. We must also tackle gender identity.
A report by the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner speaks very clearly about the need to address gender identity separately from sexual orientation:
Legislating on sexual orientation and stopping there is not enough
“Both the notion of gender identity and the forms of gender expression used in everyday life are important elements for understanding the rights problems faced by transgender persons. Some legal frameworks in Council of Europe member states, unfortunately, categorise gender identity under ‘sexual orientation’, which is not accurate since gender identity and sexual orientation are two different concepts.”
Amnesty International point out that: “Sexual orientation covers sexual desires, feelings, practices and identification. Sexual orientation can be towards people of the same or different sexes.”
On the other hand, it added, “gender identity refers to the complex relationship between sex and gender referring to a person’s experience of self-expression in relation to social categories of masculinity or femininity (gender). A person’s subjectively felt gender identity may be at variance with their sex or physiological characteristics.”
I consider it of the essence that ‘gender identity’ is included together with ‘sexual orientation’ in the Constitutional amendment.
The rights of minorities need to be addressed. This is the way forward if we are to strive for a more humane society.
As the UN Secretary General points out:
“Some say that sexual orientation and gender identity are sensitive issues. I understand. Like many of my generation, I did not grow up talking about these issues. But I learned to speak out because lives are at stake and because it is our duty under the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to protect the rights of everyone, everywhere” (Ban Ki-moon address to the Human Rights Council, March 7, 2012).
Helena Dalli is Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties.