The Malta Gay Rights Movement this morning accused former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi of “wilful misinterpretation of the law” and distorting the truth.

In a statement referring to an opinion by Dr Gonzi today in Times of Malta, the movement said that while Dr Gonzi had every right to express his disagreement with the Civil Unions Bill, “wilful misinterpretation of the law” was unacceptable.

“MGRM may not always have seen eye to eye with Dr Gonzi but the movement always believed he was a man of integrity. It is hard to maintain this belief when Dr Gonzi knowingly chooses to distort the truth,” it said.

The movement said that the Civil Unions Act did not introduce the right to adoption into Maltese law. It established the principle of equality, at par with marriage, and the right for same-sex couples to be considered as potential adoptive persons, should this be judged to be in a child’s best interest by the adoption board.

“This important distinction has been made repeatedly by any number of government MPs as well as by LGBTI activists,” it said.

The problem was not the Civil Unions Act and the rights and obligations it granted same-sex couples, but the firmly-entrenched belief that the best interest of the child could only be met by heterosexual family models, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, MGRM said.

It added that the current Act bore no resemblance whatsoever to the 2012 Cohabitation Bill drawn up by the previous government.

“What the PN was willing to legislate for was minimal rights and recognition, most of which same-sex couples could already access through a notarial deed. Despite being cognisant of the position of the LGBT movement, since MGRM published a position paper on marriage equality in January of 2012, the PN government chose to put forward a Bill which the LGBT community itself did not endorse.

“The disservice that is being perpetrated is not to the adoptive process, as claimed by Dr Gonzi, but to LGBT persons and their families,” it said.

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