Since when is a sticker so offensive? And before you come at me with your point of view about how you respect everyone and that all should be welcomed anyway, let me just remind you about that incident which happened just a few weeks ago. You know, the one when a mum filmed herself reciting the rosary backwards because she found out her child is learning about gay people during PSCD lessons at school.
Those kind of posts show the actual intolerance any person who does not fit into the "straight white Maltese (sometimes even male)" box has to endure here in Malta. Publications from around the world may stamp us with their seal of approval about how Malta is the best place to holiday for the LGBTIQ+ community and while the current government has done so much to ensure we live in a tolerant society we are still a long way from actually being tolerant.
There is so much criticism being levied towards the government about the lack of enforcement yet the day the government tries to put law into practice with a very straightforward campaign it is immediately shut down because: STICKERS!
A sticker that says “All Are Welcome” is apparently divisive and discriminatory. A symbol of inclusiveness was seen as a threat and created almost as much hysteria online as the news of a terrorist killing of a migrant by two army soldiers. Sense of scale anyone?
It is easy to criticise the campaign if you think about it subjectively but try and put yourself into someone else’s shoes.
The campaign is aimed at creating safer spaces around the island. Not just for the LGBTIQ+ community but for everyone. The first principle of the campaign is for businesses to respect human dignity:
“Businesses and other organisations are encouraged to put in place practices and/or policies to ensure that human rights are respected. All should ensure to respect any individual who they come in contact with, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity gender expression, sex characteristics, nationality, religion, disability or age among others.”
This is not a sticker you find at your local stationery. Businesses will need to apply, attend a course and then receive it. It is not compulsory for every business to have it and it is definitely not meant as a sign of segregation. It is simply a sign that a business has took it upon themselves to proactively take a step to become more inclusive. The main problem seems to stem from the idea that this sticker is a label instead of it being something similar to a certificate of merit.
As much as we would like to think we are all very tolerant the reality is, unfortunately, a lot further from the truth. Until the "P" word is stopped being used as a pejorative terms (actually stopped being used at all), until we stop having trouble accepting non-binary people and complain that they are only doing this for attention, until trans people feel comfortable going into shops to try clothes on, until all of us start accepting and promoting the need for gender neutral toilets, until same sex couples aren't afraid to hold hands in public, then we might not need a sticker. But we're not there yet.
It is easy to criticise the campaign if you think about it subjectively but try and put yourself into someone else’s shoes. Someone who for some reason or another has been discriminated against. Even if you are part of the LGBTIQ+ community and you’ve never suffered any discrimination, that doesn’t automatically null the experiences of others.
This campaign is a positive one. Maybe it needed to be communicated better, focusing primarily on the education of businesses which upon completion would receive some kind of merit (even if it is in the form of a sticker), and it would have been more powerful if the main message was focused around all kind of discrimination rather than just a focus on the LGBTIQ+ community. The backlash received shows only the immaturity of the level of dialogue. Don't just point at it and say it's stupid. Instead try critiquing the campaign constructively so that it can be modified and it can bring about real positive change.