Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1305625
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS IT is a virulent mixture of re- ligious conservatives, Catho- lic traditionalists, evangelicals, pro-lifers, and also members of the political far-right, for whom the Equality Act represents an- other "culture war" being waged by dark Marxist forces. One of these is the Pro Malta Christiana, an ultra-conserva- tive minority that includes the right-wing academic and one- time Azzjoni Nazzjonali politi- cal activist, Philip Beattie, which in the past accused the Maltese archbishop Charles J. Scicluna of "favouring the homosexual agenda" – specifically for his endorsement of gay Catholic groups such as Drachma. Beat- tie, a lecturer at the University of Malta, had led a rosary rally in "reparation for the abomination of Malta's annual gay pride". On their Facebook page, Pro Malta Christiana makes it well known what it thinks of the Equality Act: "It's a Marxist at- tack against religious liberty," they say, redolent of the same words employed by the an- ti-IVF campaigner and pro-life activists Marlene Sciberras in a recent Times opinion. "It is a vile attack against Christian faith, human rights, freedom of expression, and conscientious objection." The group comprises Catho- lics who resent Pope Francis for his statements on migra- tion, claiming the Pope wants to open the West to immigrants as a "non-negotiable princi- ple" and dialogue with Islam "whatever the cost". But they tell their followers as Malta is a majority Catholic nation, "Mal- tese Catholics are legitimately entitled to object to, and resist the multiculturalism that arises from mass, disordered influxes of immigrants." Their religious zeal is mirrored by the evangelical preacher Gordon John Manché, whose Facebook page is replete with links to news on Donald Trump, anti-Democrat news sources, conspiratorial links on COV- ID-19 vaccines peddled by Mal- tese far-right activists like Mov- iment Patriotti Maltin, or the right-wing Catholic priest – and dear friend of Holocaust denier Norman Lowell – David Mus- cat, who in one recent tirade took aim at the Nationalist MEP Robert Metsola for "an attack on Catholic Poland". Manché has been part of the conservative backlash on the Equality Act, which he has termed "perverse": one of his followers has been protesting outside the House of Represent- atives, claiming the law will al- low teachers to teach 6-year-old boys "how to kiss boys" and that parents are losing "their right to educate their children". In the press, the main backlash to the law is fronted by Life Net- work Foundation chairperson Miriam Sciberras, an anti-abor- tion activist who protested the introduction of gay marriage in 2017 as well as IVF rights for lesbian and single women. As in instances, a suspicion of "far left" cultural maxims is a com- mon thread: in the 2017 protest against marriage equality, the pro-life activist Paul Vincenti said not giving the right to peo- ple to conscientiously object to provide services to same-sex couples was "communism"; like- wise, Sciberras recently claimed that "threatening people into compliance" with equality "is tantamount to brainwashing and Marxist indoctrination." They are then joined by an old ally: the conservative Na- tionalist politician and former European Commissioner Tonio Borg. Back in 2006 he wanted to entrench the crime of abor- Anti-gay, anti-feminist, religious zealots. Just who are the adversaries of the Equality Act, asks MATTHEW VELLA No equality please... IN the world of Malta's secular Christian organisations and faith schools, a cultur- al war is being waged against the Equal- ity Bill, a new set of rules that places a renewed onus on employers to curb dis- criminatory practices. The pro-life Life Network Foundation, the Catholic schools commission, and former Nationalist politicians like the conservative Tonio Borg have stepped up the opposition. The schools claim they will be prevent- ed from employing Catholics to teaching positions, because the law presents them with a challenge: candidates to a teaching profession in which the Catholic faith is not a genuine requirement, could be able to challenge schools' employment of less meritorious candidates. Firebrands like pro-life activist Miriam Sciberras are demanding special treat- ment for Catholics through a conscien- tious objection clause that would allow professionals, like doctors, to refuse med- ical treatment they would deem contra- ry to their faith. She claims these people are being "threatened into compliance" through an act of Marxist indoctrination. In her long list of protestations, Sciber- ras claims the "evil" anti-discrimination law could lead to people taken to court for wearing a cross around their neck, or schools forced to close unless they change their curriculum. But little in the Equality Bill seems to suggest this nightmarish scenario. From EIRA to Equality Malta's chief employment rulebook, the Employment and Industrial Rela- tions Act, includes so-called 'protected characteristics' where any discriminatory treatment on marital status, pregnancy or potential pregnancy, sex, colour, disabili- ty, religious conviction, political opinion or membership in a trade union or in an employers' association is illegal. The same law already gives leeway to employers on particular roles that require a particular skill set when "such a char- acteristic constitutes a genuine and de- termining occupational requirement pro- vided that the objective is legitimate and the requirement is proportionate." For example, an ambulance driver would be required to be able-bodied enough to drive an ambulance in high-pressure situ- ations, therefore 'excluding' persons with certain disabilities. The same rules allow ethos-based em- ployers, like church and faith schools, to recruit people for a role which objectively requires the employee to hold the same faith. The Equality Bill reinforces the EIRA's provisions but says the schools can dif- ferentiate "limitedly" on the basis of faith if there is a "sufficiently genuine and le- gitimate justification". That means that it is only on those roles in which there is a genuine, legitimate, and justified pur- pose, specifically educators of religion, that faith may be considered as a factor in their recruitment. The law will make it illegal to discrim- inate against anyone when it comes to access to goods and services, advertising, financial services, education, trade union or association affiliation, jobs and recruit- ers, or carrying out business. It will mean that nobody can get "less favourable treatment" when it comes to supplying goods and services. Wide-ranging exceptions There are special protection or bene- fits for people – as well as less favoura- ble treatment from laws – that are based on protected characteristics which can be "reasonable, proportionate and legiti- mate"; although never on the basis of col- our, ethnicity or race. For example, measures of positive ac- tion aimed at achieving equality, are not discriminatory. However, Malta's national curriculum already mandates religious studies on the basis of a Catholic faith. So the employ- ment of a Catholic-faith teacher cannot be constituted as discriminatory for this purpose. It is when a physics teacher, for exam- ple, whose superior qualifications are passed over for the employment of a less- er-qualified Catholic, that a faith school would have a case to answer for. Religious rules not What's in the Equality Bill?