Maltese parliament legalises same-sex marriage

 

People take a selfie while celebrating after the Maltese parliament voted to legalise same-sex marriage on the Roman Catholic Mediterranean island, in Valletta, Malta July 12, 2017. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi

 

VALLETTA (Reuters) - Maltese lawmakers voted on Wednesday to legalise same-sex marriage on the Roman Catholic Mediterranean island, fulfilling Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's campaign promise to make this the first law brought before parliament in his new term.

 

The law, which drew cross-party support, removes words including as "husband", "wife", "mother" and "father" from the Marriage Act and replaces them with the gender-neutral "spouse", "parent who gave birth" and "parent who did not give birth".

 

Muscat said such wording was needed to avoid categorising any member of society. He rejected accusations that this could spell the end to "Mother's Day" or "Father's Day", saying such suggestions were "laughable".

 

"I think this is an historic vote. It shows that our democracy and our society are maturing ... It is a society where we can all say we are equal," the prime minister told reporters.

 

Muscat won a second term in office on June 3 and had vowed to reinforce his call for equality in society.

 

Once a staunchly conservative nation, Malta has been steadily adopting more progressive legislation in recent years. In 2011, the country voted in a referendum to allow divorce, and in 2014 it approved civil partnerships.

 

Malta was the 24th country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage with Tuesday's vote coming just two weeks after German lawmakers approved a similar measure in June.

 

The opposition Nationalist Party backed the introduction of same-sex marriage, despite fierce criticism from some conservatives, who said it marked a damaging departure from the party's Christian-Democratic principles.

 

"You have pushed the party into a lose-lose situation and it seems many of you cannot even see it," said former finance minister Tonio Fenech, who is no longer a member of parliament.

 

In the end, only one opposition lawmaker voted against the bill, while 66 parliamentarians supported it. There were no abstentions.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said his party backed the law because society was changing and because it did not alter anything from the civil partnerships law which gave civil partners the same rights as married couples.

 

The Malta Gay Rights Movement celebrated the new law with a party attended by hundreds in a square outside the prime minister's office in the capital, Valletta.

 

(Reporting by Chris Scicluna; Editing by Louise Ireland)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-13

Yep, life in prison for all and everyone. Why should the gays be better off than me...

Until Malta bans the spring and autumn bird hunt, as far as I'm concerned, the Maltese can all go <deleted> themselves, up whichever orifice.

7 hours ago, ddavidovsky said:

Until Malta bans the spring and autumn bird hunt, as far as I'm concerned, the Maltese can all go <deleted> themselves, up whichever orifice.

 

The 2015 referendum had 50.4% for and 49.6% against the "hunt".

 

The PM seems to sympathise with the anti lobby:

 

"On 27 April, a kestrel was illegally shot at, and the injured bird fell in the yard of St. Edward's College in Birgu. Muscat called this incident "inexcusable" and closed the season immediately."

 

It seems reasonable to suppose that the anti faction will grow rather than the pros (I''ll bet it's old ***** voting for continuance).

 

Let's hope the birds (and the youth of the UK ) can survive long enough to benefit from the death of yesterdays people.