The decision to paint over the zebra crossings in Floriana and Victoria solicited a few contributions in the columns of this newspaper that went far beyond the aesthetics of whether the colours of the rainbow were prettier than the black and white stripes that should indicate the priority of pedestrians over motorists.
The first permanent rainbow street crossings made their appearance in Vancouver, Canada, two years ago to coincide with Pride Week. In Malta, the rainbow crossings were unveiled to mark the first anniversary of the approval by Parliament of the Civil Unions Act. More than the makeover itself, what seemed to irk some commentators in Times of Malta was the fact that, in Gozo, the crossing was inaugurated with an event involving schoolchildren from the Victoria primary school.
I do not wish to be drawn into the polemical aspects of the concerns that were raised, with some contributors going so far as to describe what has been happening in Malta recently as a “humiliating capitulation to the gay lobby” by the political parties or as exposing children to “ideological propaganda”. When I read these and other similar comments, I was struck by the fact that the philosophical dichotomy that has influenced western thought and culture since the time of Plato is still very much alive today.
Broadly speaking, many people persist in picturing everything in terms of ‘black or white’ with both being mutually exclusive, that is, you are either right or wrong and something is either good or bad.
Plato’s influence on Augustine of Hippo, the great doctor of the Church, ensured that this dichotomy prevailed for centuries in Christian philosophy and theology to the extent that many of us were brought up with this mentality to choose good and spurn evil lest we risk the fires of hell and eternal damnation.
Naturally, we were also provided with a long compendium containing never-ending lists of what could be classified as good or evil. An individual’s free will and personal choice had nothing to do with this. Indeed, when they do not coincide with what has been preordained by those having the (divine) authority to so do, then individual choices are wrong and an abuse of one’s freedom.
Freedom is presented as the choice between doing good or evil acts and, of course, one must always choose to do good. Black or white.
The result of this? Generations of persons who do not see themselves as a perfect fit in this ‘either or’ scenario, trying to come to terms with the fact that they feel different from most others, often having to hide their true selves lest they be labelled as being some kind of freaks of nature and, even worse, suffer rejection, discrimination, being made fun of, bullying and so many other things without forgetting, of course, that even today there are countries where homosexuality may be punishable by death.
As a man who spent almost 40 years struggling with issues of self-acceptance, the discussion on whether one is born gay or becomes gay is totally irrelevant because, if today I know who I am and accept myself to be who I am, I am certain that this is not because I chose to be this way or because of my upbringing. I have always felt different from other persons of my sex. And believe me, it was no easy ride.
Hopefully, in the near future, a same-sex civil union ceremony will be treated as something normal
As children we were told that having particular feelings for other boys was wrong, unnatural, evil. The Bible condemned it; society condemned it.
You had to keep up the act of pretending you liked girls because, otherwise, you would risk being bullied or excluded.
The climate in which we grew up was still one where one could not speak about it to anybody. The only space one could possibly confide in somebody else was during confession where one would be careful to hide, out of a sense of profound shame, ‘the sin’ of feeling attracted to persons of the same sex in a longer list and then being told to try as best as one could to suppress those feelings.
So now we are told by some individuals that not making persons have to go through this sort of trauma is a “humiliating capitulation to the gay lobby”. I am proud that my country, a country where Christian values are still strong, and maybe also because of this, is a country which is now at the forefront when it comes to legislative measures that ensure equality between all Maltese citizens irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Moreover, what is so wrong with telling schoolchildren that it’s ok if, as they grow up, they start to feel different from most of their classmates?
No one is “denying the truth of sexual difference”; nor is anybody telling the Church it is wrong in considering that the sacrament of matrimony can only be celebrated between one man and one woman or that it should change this, which is why I also cannot understand why some same-sex couples entering into a civil union seem to want to transform their celebration into some kind of pseudo religious rite. Weren’t the whole divorce issue and the civil union debates about separation between the religious and secular (civil) spaces after all?
Today we live in a country where people are far more open to diversity, at least in terms of LGBTI persons and lifestyles. This would not have been possible had certain prominent politicians not had the courage to take the lead.
Laws on their own do not serve to counter prejudice and change people’s mentality.
However, having a legal framework that guarantees equality between all Maltese citizens irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity is one of the major strides Maltese society has managed to make over the past decade. The legal framework is the result of societal change and will, in turn, itself lead to change.
Today, the media still feel the need to report on same-sex civil unions celebrated locally. Hopefully, in the near future, a same-sex civil union ceremony will be treated as something normal, just like any other marriage celebration between a man and a woman.
Is this a case of indulging in ideological propaganda?