Eddie Fenech Adami, the Nationalist Party’s former leader, made a stern statement against gay rights yesterday after the party mentioned homosexual couples in a policy document it approved over the weekend.
“If there is any equating [gay unions] to marriage between a man and a woman, it is wrong... Even if the word [marriage] is not used,” Dr Fenech Adami told The Times.
Asked whether the party risked taking gay rights a step too far, the former President said: “It is very dangerous and it would be a big mistake.”
However, Dr Fenech Adami, who like his party was strongly against divorce, said people who cohabit should be protected from exploitation.
Meanwhile, other elements of the PN welcomed the policy document which outlined the party’s updated core beliefs and was authored by Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil, a moderate and popular face of the party.
Philosopher Joe Friggieri, who was asked to give a keynote speech at the last general council in June, noted with satisfaction that his message for the party to embrace the winds of change had been heeded.
Prof. Friggieri said the party seemed to have absorbed the shock of the divorce referendum result and was willing to move on.
“It doesn’t have a choice. It was forced to do so by the electorate. It would have been better had it felt the pulse of the electorate before the referendum rather than after the results came out,” he added.
Prof. Friggieri said the document made no reference to the Religio et Patria slogan which was often quoted by key officials during and after the referendum, but which he had described as “well past its sell-by date”.
Although the document did not outline concrete legislation on gay rights, Prof. Friggieri said there was “at least a nod in the right direction”.
“The liberal wing of the party now needs to take the lead to propose legislation that would translate theory into practice,” he said.
Former Nationalist MP Richard Muscat is confident the party will perform “cultural mediation” to marry the concepts of “unity in diversity” with the party’s Christian-inspired roots and principles.
He said this sparked a healthy exchange of conflicting ideas within the party, which was bound to find the right solution.
This document, he said, laid the foundations for a discussion – something the party was not armed with when the divorce issue cropped up last year to everyone’s surprise. “We’re better prepared this time,” he said.
The Malta Gay Rights Movement has said it is unimpressed by the PN’s “unclear” wording about homosexual rights.
Yesterday, MGRM head Gabi Calleja said the PN document only confirmed gay couples would not be excluded from cohabitation laws. This could not replace the legal registration of gay partnerships since some couples could be in a relationship but not living together, such as if one of them had a job in Brussels.
“Anything short of a civil union will not be considered a step forward,” she said, pointing out that gay couples wanted rights related to hospital visitation, inheritance, residency for third-country nationals, parenting and filing tax returns.
“We’re now at a stage where we expect some form of legal recognition and we hope it would not be minimal but comprehensive,” she said, adding that “at least” the government should introduce registered partnerships, which would include some but not all marital rights.
The PN document said the State should legislate in every way possible to establish rights and responsibilities of unmarried couples, both heterosexual and homosexual.