The Gender Identity Bill, described as groundbreaking by international organisations, will improve the quality of life of the LGBTIQ community, Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli told Parliament last night.
Dr Dalli said the proposed law would ensure the right enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.
Noting that several governments had systematically discriminated against and removed the liberty of groups of individuals, Dr Dalli said it did not require a medical intervention for one to be recognised as having the gender with which one identified. The government presented the Bill for knowledge to reign over ignorance, for justice to reign over injustice and to build a society on the respect of human rights.
The proposed law would ensure the right in the Universal Declaration:that all human beings are born free and equal indignity and rights
The government’s work was to bring down the bastions of prejudices.
The Bill was not an issue of giving rights to transsexual people but an issue of human rights. The LGBTIQs should enjoy the same rights and have the same access to opportunities. The Labour Party always believed in a free society that celebrated diversity. It always ensured equality and respected minority rights.
She said one was not doing LGBTIQs a favour but giving them what the rest of society enjoyed by right. Whilst stereotypes divided people, diversity unified them.
Dr Dalli said the Bill also addressed the issue of intersex persons who could not be medically classified as male or female. It was giving recognition and dignity to these individuals.
The LGBTIQ community had made proposals on gender identity four years ago but these had been ignored up to 2013. Dr Dalli remarked that former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi had told a transgender person that the PN government had other priorities than pushing forward a Gender Identity Bill.
On the contrary, a newly-elected Labour government immediately acted to address this issue with three measures introduced last year, including non discrimination under the Constitution and protection in the employment sector.
The Council of Europe was promoting Malta’s Gender Identity Bill as an example of best practice across Europe, she said.