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Named after | Malta Gay Rights Movement |
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Founded | 2001Malta) | (
Type | LGBTIQ Rights |
Headquarters | Mosta, Malta |
Location | |
Co-Coordinator | Cynthia Chircop |
Co-Coordinator | Colette Farrugia Bennett |
Affiliations | ILGA, ILGA-Europe, IGLYO, TGEU, AIDS Action Europe, NELFA |
Website | www |
The Malta LGBTIQ Rights Movement (MGRM), previously known as the Malta Gay Rights Movement, is an organisation committed to achieve full equality for all LGBTIQ people in Malta regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics and expression.
MGRM was set up in 2001, making it the first and most influential LGBTIQ+ lobbying group in Malta. MGRM organised the first Pride March in Malta and launched the first national gay helpline in 2004. [1] [2] Since then, MGRM has had a key role in lobbying for legislation, carrying out research and providing support to Malta's LGBTIQ community.
MGRM's origins started from a group called The Malta Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights Movement, set up in a bar called The Yellow Cadillac in Gżira by a group of people who wished to discuss gay rights in Malta. [3] When the group disbanded, some members including Sonja Casha and Chris Attard decided that they wished to resume their activism work, so they got together alongside some volunteers, and drew up the first statute of the Malta Gay Rights Movement. [3] The group set up its headquarters in Mosta towards 2004, from where it still operates today.
Sandro Mangion joined the group as the first official Coordinator of MGRM and remained the group's coordinator until Colette Farrugia Bennett was elected Coordinator following his departure in. In 2010, Gabi Calleja became Coordinator [4] seeing the group through the legal achievements that led to Malta becoming the top ranking country in terms of its LGBT rights in ILGA-Europe's Rainbow European Map Index [5]
Following Calleja's departure from the group in 2019, Farrugia Bennett was reappointed as Co-Coordinator of the group, alongside Cynthia Chircop. [6]
Between 2001 and 2004, MGRM's first committee members came together for the very purpose of setting up Malta's first national gay helpline. [3] The helpline launched in 2004, and was originally available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. [2] The helpline remains operational through MGRM's Rainbow Support Service
In 2013, the National Gay Helpline was transformed into the Rainbow Support Service. The service was a collaboration between MGRM, Agenzija Zghazagh and the Embassy of the United States. [7] The service is available to LGBTIQ+ persons and their family and friends, and provides information, consultation and psycho-social welfare services. [8] The service is now funded through a Public Social Partnership with the MInistry for Social Policy and Children's Rights. [9]
In 2020 MGRM participated in an initiative by the Ministry of Social Accommodation through which MGRM was awarded a dilapidated house in San Ġwann named Dar il-Qawsalla (Rainbow House). [10] Once the house is restored, MGRM will be managing the first assisted living residence for LGBTIQ persons in Malta. MGRM expects to welcome its first guests in 2024. [11]
MGRM launched HIV Malta in September 2019, with the aim to de-stigmatise HIV and start a conversation with easily accessible information. [12] Through this project, MGRM extended its Rainbow Support Service to people living with HIV, and lobbied for better treatment and free preventative care.
MGRM's first success in its lobbying for full equal rights related to the ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The group lobbied for full implementation of Employment Directive 2000/78/EC which provided this legal protection. The ban was eventually enacted through a 2004 Legal Notice that amended the Employment and Industrial Relations Act.
In the run-up of the 2008 Maltese general election, MGRM launched a petition which was presented to all political parties participating in the election. [13] Through the petition, signatories declared that they supported MGRM's claims for greater LGBT rights, and demanded:
The petition attracted 1,000 signatories and set the group's activism plan in upcoming years. [14]
On 28 October 2010, the Government of Malta announced that it was working on a Cohabitation Bill to regulate same-sex relationships, instead of a bill that recognised same-sex relationships at par with marriage. MGRM criticised this bill, pointing out that the proposed law "fails to attain even the minimal level of recognition acceptable". [15] The bill did not include same-sex couples in the legal definition of "family" which meant that if a same-sex couple with children moved to Malta, the child would lose a legal parent, constituting a breach to children's rights and freedom of movement where EU citizens are concerned. The bill eventually failed to make it to law with the dissolution of Government in December 2012.
A new Labour Party (Malta) Government launched a full Civil Unions bill which included same-sex couples within the definition of 'family' at the top of the agenda, a move welcomed by MGRM. [16] [17] The new government also dropped its objections to a long-standing court case through which it objected to the right of a post-op transgender woman to marry, a decision which Gabi Calleja described as approacing conformity to European law at least in so far as marriage is concerned. [18] The Civil Unions Bill was approved by Parliament in October 2013, and signed by the President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca in April 2014. [19] [20] The delay was reportedly the result of the refusal of President George Abela to sign the law, which necessitated a change in President for the bill to become law. [21]
In September 2017, full Marriage Equality was reached with a new law that amended the Marriage Act to now also allow same-sex couples to marry. This means that couples in Malta now have a choice between civil unions or marriage.
In 2010, MGRM presented a document entitled "A Proposed Gender Identity Act" to the Maltese Government. [22] The aim of the study was to propose a legal approach to transgender persons that builds upon Act XVIII of 2004 of the laws of Malta, which set up a procedure for the rectification of acts of birth and other personal documentation, to reflect gender affirmation. Notwithstanding this Act, several impediments still existed for transgender people, as exemplified by case of Joanne Cassar who was actively fighting a lengthy case in front of multiple courts in order to win the right to marry. [23]
MGRM's Gender Identity Act proposal formed the basis of a public consultation, which eventually became law in 2015 through the Gender Identity, Gender Expression And Sex Characteristics Act. [24] TGEU described the act as setting 'a new benchmark in Europe' through its 'respectful, comprehensive and yet practical aspirations'. [24]
MGRM is a main proponent of the cause against conversion therapy. It led and participated in protests to emphasise the harms of conversion therapy and called for a ban on this practice. [25] MGRM called religious organizations' resistance to a proposed 2015 bill presented to Parliament by Helena Dalli as being 'profoundly flawed'. [26] The bill eventually passed through all stages of Parliament until it became law through the Affirmation of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression Act on 6 December 2016, a first such law in Europe. [27] On 12 January 2022 it was announced that the legislation would be strengthened to also make it illegal for anyone to promote the practice. [28]
Year | Title | Author | ISBN | Note |
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2022 | Katya - Easy on the Tonic | Ramona Depares | 978-9918-0-0380-8 | The authorised biography of Katya Saunders |
2021 | 20 Years of Trailblazing | MGRM | 978-9918-0-0172-9 | Commemoration of MGRM's 20 year anniversary |
2018 | A Seat at the Table | Simon Bartolo | 978-99957-1-268-6 | A series of interviews and narrations with key activists, politicians, religious figures, entertainers and young activists who have had a role in shaping the LGBTIQ+ history of Malta |
2018 | LGBTIQ youth activism : the past & the present | Kirsty Farrugia & Bizuayehu Castaniere | 978-99957-1-387-4 |
Attitudes in Ireland towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are among the most liberal in the world. Ireland is notable for its transformation from a country holding overwhelmingly conservative attitudes toward LGBT issues, in part due to the opposition by the Roman Catholic Church, to one holding overwhelmingly liberal views in the space of a generation. In May 2015, Ireland became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage on a national level by popular vote. The New York Times declared that the result put Ireland at the "vanguard of social change". Since July 2015, transgender people in Ireland can self-declare their gender for the purpose of updating passports, driving licences, obtaining new birth certificates, and getting married. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity have been legal in the state since 1993. Government recognition of LGBT rights in Ireland has expanded greatly over the past two decades. Homosexuality was decriminalised in 1993, and most forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation are now outlawed. Ireland also forbids incitement to hatred based on sexual orientation.
Canadian lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights are some of the most extensive in the world. Same-sex sexual activity was made lawful in Canada on June 27, 1969, when the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968–69 was brought into force upon royal assent. In a landmark decision in 1995, Egan v Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada held that sexual orientation is constitutionally protected under the equality clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In 2005, Canada was the fourth country in the world, and the first in the Americas, to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in New Zealand are some of the most extensive in the world. The protection of LGBT rights is advanced, relative to other countries in Oceania, and among the most liberal in the world, with the country being the first in the region and thirteenth in the world to enact same-sex marriage.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Australia have advanced over the latter half of the twentieth century and early twenty-first century to make Australia one of the most LGBT-accepting countries in the world, with opinion polls and the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey indicating widespread popular support for same-sex marriage. A 2013 Pew Research poll found that 79% of Australians agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, making it the fifth-most supportive country surveyed in the world. With its long history of LGBT activism and annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival, Sydney has been named one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Malta rank among the highest in the world. Throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the rights of the LGBT community received more awareness and same-sex sexual activity was legalized on 29 January 1973; it was already dormant by the 1890s.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) rights in Switzerland are progressive by European standards. Their history is one of liberalisation at an increasing pace since the 1940s, in parallel to the legal situation in Europe and the Western world more generally. Legislation providing for same-sex marriage, same-sex adoption, and IVF access was accepted by 64% of voters in a referendum on 26 September 2021, and entered into force on 1 July 2022.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the U.S. state of Nevada enjoy most of the same rights as non-LGBT Nevadans. Same-sex marriage has been legal since October 8, 2014, due to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Sevcik v. Sandoval. Same-sex couples may also enter a domestic partnership status that provides many of the same rights and responsibilities as marriage. However, domestic partners lack the same rights to medical coverage as their married counterparts and their parental rights are not as well defined. Same-sex couples are also allowed to adopt, and state law prohibits unfair discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, among other categories, in employment, housing and public accommodations. In addition, conversion therapy on minors is outlawed in the state.
Same-sex marriage in Malta has been legal since 1 September 2017, following the passage of legislation in the Parliament on 12 July 2017. The bill was signed into law by President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca on 1 August 2017. On 25 August 2017, the Minister for Equality, Helena Dalli, issued a legal notice to commence the law on 1 September.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in the U.S. state of Delaware enjoy most of the same legal protections as non-LGBT persons. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in Delaware since January 1, 1973. On January 1, 2012, civil unions became available to same-sex couples, granting them the "rights, benefits, protections, and responsibilities" of married persons. Delaware legalized same-sex marriage on July 1, 2013.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in New Jersey have most of the same rights as non-LGBT people. LGBT persons in New Jersey enjoy strong protections from discrimination, and have had the right to marry since October 21, 2013.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the Australian state of New South Wales have most of the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexual cisgender people.
The Australian state of Victoria is regarded as one of the most progressive jurisdictions with respect to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people.
California is seen as one of the most liberal states in the U.S. in regard to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) rights, which have received nationwide recognition since the 1970s. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in the state since 1976. Discrimination protections regarding sexual orientation and gender identity or expression were adopted statewide in 2003. Transgender people are also permitted to change their legal gender on official documents without any medical interventions, and mental health providers are prohibited from engaging in conversion therapy on minors.
The U.S. state of New York has generally been seen as socially liberal in regard to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". The advocacy movement for LGBT rights in the state has been dated as far back as 1969 during the Stonewall riots in New York City. Same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults has been legal since the New York v. Onofre case in 1980. Same-sex marriage has been legal statewide since 2011, with some cities recognizing domestic partnerships between same-sex couples since 1998. Discrimination protections in credit, housing, employment, education, and public accommodation have explicitly included sexual orientation since 2003 and gender identity or expression since 2019. Transgender people in the state legally do not have to undergo sex reassignment surgery to change their sex or gender on official documents since 2014. In addition, both conversion therapy on minors and the gay and trans panic defense have been banned since 2019. Since 2021, commercial surrogacy has been legally available within New York State.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the United States state of Virginia enjoy the same rights as non-LGBT persons. LGBT rights in the state are a recent occurrence, with most improvements in LGBT rights occurring in the 2000s and 2010s. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Virginia since October 6, 2014, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal in the case of Bostic v. Rainey. Effective since July 1, 2020, there is a statewide law protecting LGBT persons from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and credit. The state's hate crime laws effective since July 1, 2020, now explicitly include both sexual orientation and gender identity.
Helena Dalli is a Maltese politician serving as European Commissioner for Equality since 1 December 2019. She is a member of the Labour Party.
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is one of Australia's leading jurisdictions with respect to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) people. The ACT has made a number of reforms to territory law designed to prevent discrimination of LGBT people; it was the only state or territory jurisdiction in Australia to pass a law for same-sex marriage, which was later overturned by the High Court of Australia. The Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Queensland are the only jurisdictions within Australia to legally ban conversion therapy on children. The ACT's laws also apply to the smaller Jervis Bay Territory.
Lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender (LGBT) history in Belgium has evolved through the centuries. According to LGBT scholars Bart Eeckhout and David Paternotte, Belgium, considered a conservative nation, developed into one of the world's most progressive and LGBT-friendly states. From the 16th century, Roman Catholic values influenced attitudes towards LGBT rights. Homosexuality and sodomy was criminalised and punished in Belgium, with gay men being put under conversion therapy by medical doctors and psychiatrists. Homosexuality was decriminalised in the 18th century, but sodomy still remained punishable until the 19th century. However, from the 21st century, Belgium developed into a more LGBT friendly state; Belgium's anti-discrimination law ensures that discrimination based on sexual orientation is illegal and introduces new transgender legal rights. Belgium is the second country, after the Netherlands, to open civil marriage to same-sex couples in 2003, and granted same-sex couples the right to adopt in 2006. And continues to provide asylum for individuals who may be persecuted for their sexual and gender identity. Belgium has also implemented new education policies to combat school discrimination against LGBT peoples and has allowed IVF and artificial insemination to be available for same-sex couples. Belgium has also supported LGBT politicians and expression of LGBT values through art.
Gabi Calleja is an LGBTIQ rights activist in Malta. She read for a Masters in Youth and Community Studies at the University of Malta. From 2010 to 2019, she was the coordinator of the Malta Gay Rights Movement. As of 2014, she is co-chair of the Executive Board of ILGA Europe, a lesbian and gay advocacy group. In 2014 she spoke publicly in favor of Denmark's removing a law which had required transgender people to undergo sterilization before they were legally allowed to change their gender.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 2016.
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