The Gender Identity Bill risks being “an act of injustice” instead of a law granting transgendered people dignity and equality, according to a Church position paper.
“Instead of loosening some legal restraints to make life easier for these individuals, the Bill seems to impose a new philosophy, a new culture and a new definition of sexuality and gender,” the paper states.
Drawn up by seven moral experts and endorsed by Apostolic Administrator Charles Scicluna and Gozo Bishop Mario Grech, the paper says the Bill is a step in the right direction but it has to be guided by ethical principles.
Copies of the document, released yesterday, have been handed over to the Prime Minister, Equal Opportunities Minister Helena Dalli, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil and Social Affairs Committee chair Deborah Schembri.
While welcoming the move that society was showing its human face when it tried to protect its members from unnecessary hardship and pain, it was worrying to see legislation that made changing a person’s identity as simple as changing an ID card.
“An over-simplified solution to a complex problem would trivialise the issues clustered around it. While granting individual rights, a proper balance must be struck between their rights, the interests of others and those of the community at large,” according to the document.
Some of the Bill’s propositions seemed to be far-reaching since they implied serious anthropological repercussions.
It was wiser to learn from acquired experience of other established legal systems than to engage in an “in-house experimentation” with a leap into the unknown.
It urged the government to adopt a transparent decision-making process and insisted the public would be better served if it had been given the chance to participate from the initial stages – the consultation period was too short, but it was not too late to engage in a fruitful discussion.
The Bill, is says, touched on a number of areas of concern, with the most crucial one being the definition of gender identity, which was very vague and left wide open to interpretation.
“Since the Bill requires no external physical or even psychological signifier, the determination of gender is entirely subjective and psychologically dependent on the personal preference of the individual,” the document says, adding this created a situation left wide open to abuse.
“If the Bill intends to serve compassion and justice, it should set unequivocal parameters that clearly distinguish between genuine requests for gender identity change, from requests of a more ambivalent nature.”
Moreover, the Bill not only allows the ability to change gender by a mere declaration to a public notary but it does not exclude the possibility of reversing this decision.
The position paper lauds the proposal that any changes in the recorded gender of minors will be subject to judicial review in the child’s best interests.
“The situation of transgendered persons is complex and delicate, and cannot be reduced to an ideological stance that considers sex merely as a socially construed attribute rather than as a given element of nature to be accepted and cherished as a gift.”
The position paper was drawn up by a commission appointed by Malta’s Episcopal Conference, and made up of: Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Agius, Dr Nadia Delicata, Rev. Prof. George Grima, Rev. Prof. Paul Galea, Rev. Dr Ray Zammit, Rev. Dr Richard-Nazzareno Farrugia and Rev. Anton Borg.