Guest post
This was sent in just now by Hubert Paul Farrugia. Coincidentally, I had just finished writing about the exact same subject for my newspaper column tomorrow.
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Please use this as a guest post as I have made a very heart-felt effort to write it and I want the Maltese LGBT community to know what’s really happening. Thank you very much, Daphne.
I usually use a nom-de-plume on this blog. Not that I need to really, but it explains the perspective I have on some comments I post. Today, I will use my own name.
As a Maltese gay man living away from Malta, I find the way Labour uses the gay agenda totally insulting to my intelligence and to the LGBT community in general.
Let’s start with Joseph Muscat’s speech this week as reported by The Times. Perhaps this was bad reporting (I have found no video of his speech on Youtube yet), but he said that nobody should be discriminated against on the basis of what they do in the bedroom.
Excuse me?
Being gay isn’t about having sex or going hiking on weekends with a tent and a male companion to make up for what you are not getting in your regular straight life, like a certain queen in residence.
It’s far more than that.
It’s not just about putting up a colourful flag on a red glasshouse and on a kazin tal-Labour, which is the last place a gay man would enjoy going to, biex jintefa mal-bar u joqghod jisma kif dak faqqa lil dik u lill-ohra u min hu pufta u min muhiex.
I would have really loved to be in Malta right now and take my boyfriend out to all the kazini tal-Labour to see the reaction on the regulars’ faces if I just kissed, cuddled or Vogued. Are they trying to make Labour kazini branches of Klozet for one week a year? How sweet.
As (vaguely) reported by The Times last week, the cohabitation bill is now on the parliamentary agenda. I agree that this is far from what I would wish Maltese LGBT-friendly laws to be, but it is an extremely good start indeed.
It is a great shame that this was not reported by newspapers and the media as intensely and with such coverage as Muscat’s oblique speech about ‘solidarity’ and ‘the bedroom’.
The media need to get their prorities right. Actions speak louder than words.
What is most significant? Running a £2.95 rainbow flag from eBay up a pole atop Labour headquarters, or the introduction (finally) of laws which make people like me able to somewhat formalise our relationship?
As usual with Joseph Muscat, he mentioned no definite policy Labour plans to enact when elected soon. He told us that the government interferes in gay bedrooms, but did not say how. Nor did he say what he plans to do that’s different.
Before Cyrus Engerer had that bad relationship breakup and did what he did, he commented on his Facebook wall that he was unimpressed by Muscat’s vague “naghmlulhom kuntratt” comments on Xarabank and the fact that he doesn’t agree with gay adoptions. Joseph Muscat hasn’t changed his opinion about gay marriage (against) and gay adoptions (against), but Cyrus Engerer has changed his opinion of Joseph Muscat.
I bet that if the PN didn’t put the cohabitation bill before parliament, the opportunistic Joseph Muscat and Labour would not have made this Gay Pride ‘effort’ at turning their kazini into gay bars for a week. How the rough, chauvinistic regulars must have loved sitting beneath that bandiera tal-pufti, as they think of it.
This is the usual Labour opportunism at its very worst. I’ll bet that whether Labour are in government or Opposition in 2013, post-general election and post the cohabitation law, then addio Gay Pride and rainbow flags.
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“…I find the way Labour uses the gay agenda totally insulting to my intelligence and to the LGBT community in general.”
The Labour party is patronising in everything and with everyone.
Despite being a party led by a bunch of incompetents, they think that they know better than everybody else, and that they have their own solution ready made for you.
It is the very fact that they think that they know better than everybody else, and that they have their own solution ready made for you irrespective what you think, which makes them arrogant and patronising.
Hubert, we know eachother since we were 16, i think its sad to hear you argue this way, let us acknowledge the positive things labour has done in the recent tears vis a bis lgbt, having a gay flag at all PL clubs and HQ is a clear msg for those who want to listen, such practice is done throughout europe and in malta its been done by the US and Brittis Embassy for the past years, this morning I attended the Pride March, an event I attend each year, year after year for the past 11 years Mgrm & the gay community have been asking for equality and had it not been for Mlp to put it on its agenda, i sincerly doubt there would have been any discussion let alone progress from PN’s side, to my knowledge its the first time in 11 years that The Pride march was featured on Net news, and it seems that incidentally the envoy to report it was a journalist who a couple of monghs ago called gay people zibel! I feel sorry that an jntellegent guy like you keeps politicising these issues, especially when you had a personal problem facing your homosexuality yourself and found no one to help you at junior college! Let us call positive things positive regardless of where they cone from!
[Daphne – Hey Russell, nice knickers! Now please pop back and explain how it’s absolutely a coincidence that you and Evarist root for the same political party, and this has nothing to do with how and why you chose him. I have known Evarist for yonks, and I’ve never known him to bust a gut for anyone or anything. He’s probably one of the laziest persons alive. If he could get around on his back, he would. Soldier, my aunt sally. If soldiers were like him, there would be no wars – not because he’s a pacificist, but because they’d all be trying to get the others to fight for them, and failing.]
Pupa Get your facts right, i didnt give the award to evarist i just presented it as the organisers were abroad, I didnt even vote as i was nominated myself.
P.S. glad you like my aussibums xxx
And is Daphne and Hubert Paul not rooting for the same party? If a psychologist were to device aversion therapy for heterosexuals, he or she would be well advised to use you, Malta’s most odious woman. We all know where the venom of Malta’s vipers has landed … on the tongue of the witch of Bidnija. Why not put a condom on your head? It can only improve your appearance.
[Daphne – You do a lot for the image of gay men, Joseph Carmel, I must say. When there are two subjects, you should use the plural verb: And ARE Daphne and Hubert Paul etc. Yes, we are. Being gay but not Labour is allowed. The gay people I know who are Labour are Labour only because they come from families of Mintoffiani, and not because they think Joseph is progressive, and make no mistake about it. You’re one of them, in fact.]
From his comments, Joseph Carmel Chetcuti is Labour first. Then he is gay.
But of course, it’s his choice and his life.
And you do a lot for the image of women in Malta!!!! For the record none of my parents were Mintoffjani. My father was a Striklandjan and my mother who had the same maiden surname as yours comes from an equally well-known Nationalist Party family.
[Daphne – I do not come from a well-known Nationalist family, Joseph Carmel. Both my parents come from well-known pro-Strickland (it has a ‘c’) families that were anti-Nationalist, not pro-Nationalist. But times and political parties change – including Labour, for the worse. What is my surname?]
Her father nearly ended up being exiled had it not been for the fact that he died first. Oh, I see it still gives you a thrill to find some spelling or grmmatical error. If I had to start looking at your badly constructed sentences, I’d never finish.
[Daphne – A man your age should have let that anger go by now.]
Spot the error: “grmmatical error”.
Striklandjan is a Maltese word and has no ‘c’. There is no c in Maltese. The only ‘c’ has a dot on it like ‘cuc”.
[Daphne – No, Joseph Carmel, you don’t ‘translate’ surnames into Maltese. It remains Stricklandjani.]
Just in case you deleted my reply by mistake, Get Your Facts right, I only handed the award to Varist, I didn’t Vote for the Award as I was Nominated Myself, so I decided to abstain from Voting.
Re Varist’s activism vis a vis LBGT rights…. Im sure any respectable person can make a find out and decide for himself.
I’m Glad you like My Aussie Bum Shoot :-)
Hugs xxx
Your Aussie Bum Shoot, Russell?
Is this the ‘device’ (sic) referred to by Joseph Carmel Chetcuti?
“But times and political parties change – including Labour, for the worse.”
Nice sentence construction and excellent punctuation. But who am I to advice? Oops. Must not mix my nouns with my verbs lest Teacher Daphne will get upset. Thank God she does not read my emails.
Hey Russell, that’s really liberal of you talking about when Hubert “had a personal problem facing your homosexuality”.
This is not the gay person’s problem, but rather, other people’s problem.
Is it a problem to be blonde, or tall, or male or Maltese? It’s just how God made us. There’s no problem; it’s just is.
All citizens have a right for a good, safe and fruitful life irrespective of their sexuality, nationality, race, gender or demographics.
Pupa Get your facts right, i didnt give the award to evarist i just presented it as the organisers were abroad, I didnt even vote as i was nominated myself.
P.S. glad you like my aussibums xxx
Hubert speaks of Labour opportunism. Well, I wonder how he would depict what the PN is now doing, just before a natioanl election? Labour decriminalised homosexual behaviour and the then Nationalist Party opposition voted against us.
[Daphne – Labour did not decriminalise homosexual behaviour. Labour decriminalised anal sex. Anal sex is as likely to take place between a man and a woman, in a southern Mediterranean Catholic society with a ban on contraception, as it is between a man and another man. In fact, the original law was intended to protect women from anal assault by their husbands, and not to persecute gay men. As a typical man, you write women out of the equation: how does sodomy feature in a lesbian relationship, exactly? Or are you one of those who think like this: gay = gay men?]
Hubert wonders how people would react if he kissed his boyfriend in one of the Labour kazini. He does not ask the same question with respect to Nationalist Party kazini.
[Daphne – That’s because Nationalist Party kazini are not pretending to be gay clubs with a rainbow flag for one week a year, Joseph Carmel. He didn’t ask the question because it’s superfluous.]
As is often the case with Nationalist supporters like Hubert, they do their best to misrepresent what Labour says in this case Muscat. In the video, Muscat spoke about equality. He said that we should move from tolerance to the granting of ‘rights’.
[Daphne – But only where gay men are concerned, because he has little or nothing to say on the subject of blacks. Also, as a typical old-style Mintoffian who emigrated to Australia, you seem unable to understand that rights are not granted. They simply exist. Access or exercise of one’s rights is what governments can interfere with or not.]
Hubert knows little of gay and lesbian history. Our history shows us against tolerance and for acceptance. That is what Muscat is really saying. Muscat’s reference to the bedroom was not intended to suggest that he believed homosexuality was confined to what one did in the bedroom. (Incidentally that is what Pierre Trudeau once said!) On the contrary, he pointed to love between a gay couple. He also said that (homo)sexual orientation should not be seen as a problem.
[Daphne – Oh, and you don’t feel patronised? “Gay men can love, too.” “They have feelings.” “They’re OK, you know.”]
I wonder when Gonzi will make a similar video. Or Tonio Borg? Hubert is no friend of the gay and lesbian movement because he puts his political prejudice ahead of the rights of his own ‘tribe’. Not the least surprised that he would use this running diarrhea column to mislead the public.
[Daphne – If Lawrence Gonzi made a video like that, people like me would stop voting for him. Learn the difference between the kind of person who is inclined towards the Nationalist Party and the kind of person who is inclined towards Labour.]
It is obvious you have not read the debates that led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Malta. You can be rest assured that neither EFA nor Guido de Marco spoke of anal sex on women. It was all about homosexuality. You are a stupid woman. Why not let Hubert reply to my questions? Or was this your script and he the fool to put the name to it?
[Daphne – What they spoke about is irrelevant. Why the law existed in the first place is relevant. It is not all about you, as in all about gay men. If a law about anal sex was a law against gay men, then why was there no similar law banning sexual intercourse between women. Use your brain.]
Another error. Wow! “he the fool to put the name to it?” should read “he the fool put his name to it?” By the way why not ask your mate Joe Borg whether the bishops’ letter against decriminalisation was about homosexuality or anal sex on women. Which bloody stork brought you into this world!
Daphne, you are quite right about Evarist. The man is lazy and those who think that he will defend their cause will probably be bitterly diasappointed.
I am sure there are those who think that when he becomes education minister he will bring reforms and mend injustices at the university and so on.
He will do none of this except enjoy his ministerial salary and the perks that go with it. He can bearly control his life, let alone the education ministry.
Hey Russell, how very progressive to talk that way.
In this country almost everything has a political tinge.
There must be thousands in this country who are gay or who support gays and their fight for their rights. Where are they? Only around a hundred attended the march yesterday.
Unfortunately this is also the case with women’s rights. And I mean RIGHTS.
As an election approaches, politicians will promise anything.
They hire a bandwagon.
We talk about gay people, women’s rights, indeed universal rights, but we had 16 years of Good Ole Labour government and not even the man in the street could talk of rights.
“Suq ghal fuqhom” was the call when medical students chained themselves to the railings at Castille.
I was there, not a student, but going along on an errand.
I WAS THERE.
That was the time I stopped my support for Labour.