If you look for a section on LGBTQI issues in ADPD – The Green Party’s manifesto this year, you will not find one.
This is because proposals that are connected to LGBTQI issues are streamlined across five areas: health; sexual and reproductive health and rights; migration; education; and equality and non-discrimination.
As most people are aware, Malta has made leaps in terms of recognising LGBTQI rights in the past decade. From equal marriage to quick, accessible legal gender recognition for trans people, from the ban of conversion therapies to the ban on non-consensual non-necessary surgeries on intersex infants and children.
Despite this work, there are still some gaps which Malta’s LGBTQI communities and human rights organisations call to be addressed. We recognise that the experts on LGBTQI rights are those, like the Malta LGBTQI Rights Movement, that have been working on achieving these rights for 20 years and we have listened closely to their campaigns over the past years to include LGBTQI rights in our manifesto.
In the area of health, we focus on three issues. First, that the Gender Well-being Clinic receives further funding in order to increase trained staff and, therefore, decrease waiting times for the transgender community in accessing trans-specific healthcare.
Second, we insist on truly abolishing the ban on blood donation from men who have sex with men. This ban is a discriminatory and outdated approach which is based on misinformation about HIV in particular. Finally we insist that training on LGBTQI issues should be offered to health practitioners across sectors and not be limited to those operating within the Gender Well-being Clinic and the GU Clinic.
Connected to these issues are sexual and reproductive health and rights. It is clear that sexual health has not been a priority for previous administrations. The GU Clinic is grossly underfunded, which is a cause of concern if we are to have efficient services in testing, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections.
Sexual health has not been a priority for previous administrations- Mina Tolu
This obviously affects everyone and not just the LGBTQI community. However, the LGBTQI community has offered the most guidance in tackling stigma around sexuality and in pushing for more up to date sexual health services. One such call is for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), an effective medicine in the prevention of HIV, to be available for free on the national health system.
We echo these concerns, and would spearhead a nationwide campaign to tackle stigma related to HIV diagnoses and raise awareness on prevention, testing and treatment.
On migration, we heed the call from the Aditus Foundation for family reunification that is inclusive of LGBTQI+ refugees by recognising long-term partners as ‘family members’. While in education we tackle the curriculum –comprehensive sex education should be offered in all schools, it must be evidence-based and include information on same-sex relationships.
Finally, we take a look at our equality and non-discrimination policies.
We would work to widen the remit of non-discrimination policies to ensure protection from discrimination in accessing goods and services on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.
We will push to include ‘sex characteristics’ as a protected ground in the constitution. And we will work to adjust our legal gender recognition procedures to ensure that non-binary persons who want to change their name can do so.
Mina Tolu, ADPD candidate