In the frenzy to castigate the Nationalist Opposition for abstaining in the vote on the third reading of the Civil Unions Bill in Parliament, Joseph Muscat is being projected by some as a knight in shining armour, a saviour of the gay community. Though he deserves credit for pushing the civil unions issue to its ultimate conclusion, the way he handled the matter – and coupled it with adoption – displayed ruthlessness and arrogance.
The first serious question Dr Muscat and his party would need to answer, after putting their hands firmly on their heart, is this: would they have been given the kind of support they won from the electorate in the last election had they made their intentions over adoptions by gay couples clear in the campaign?
Labour must have surely known of the electorate’s disinclination to accept such a proposition. Had they believed people were ready for such a step, they would have gone overboard driving the message home.
But the Labour campaign strategists were no fools. They left nothing to chance. So they kept their intentions under wraps and if, on the rare occasion, someone brought it up, they made sure it made no national impact. In other words, they have politically deceived the electorate in a big way on this.
This unadulterated fact does not appear to have sunk in yet.
On its part, the Nationalist Party not only made the mistake of remaining on the fence when the Bill came up for the crucial vote in Parliament but it has been distinctly unable to exploit, to the full, the barefacedness of the Labour Party in lumping gay adoptions with the Civil Unions Bill.
The PN’s reaction sounded more like a whimper, when what was required to support its position was rock-solid argumentation about the rights of the children and the dangers involved when a government enjoying huge support deals with the issue in such a stealthily and expedient manner.
The irony is that the Nationalists were right to state that civil unions and adoptions should have been separated. As we have already said, the latter is all about the rights and interests of children – not those who may want to adopt them. The Church was also unforgivably absent in reasserting its belief in these rights. While no one wants to see a repeat of the mistakes made during the divorce referendum campaign, it risks becoming irrelevant by playing no part in discussion at all.
With the European Parliament elections just round the corner, Dr Muscat simply wanted to score yet another political goal. And he succeeded. Since the election, he has calculated every step of the way, right from his commitment to bring down the electricity tariffs, down to the cash-for-passport scheme, which he had also kept under wraps in the election campaign and which has done so much harm to Malta’s image abroad.
The gay community is now forever grateful to Dr Muscat, and this formed an important part of his political calculations, but there are others who feel betrayed. Some of them are yet to be born. The government is now giving the impression that, with the kind of majority it enjoys, it can practically do whatever it likes. Is this the way it intends carrying on for the remaining years of this legislature? And, if so, is the PN going to be in a position to stand up to it?