Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1307485
12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 NOVEMBER 2020 OPINION Deceitful misrepresentations and personal attacks MATTHEW Vella's article "No equality please …" (1 Novem- ber, 2020) misrepresents my views and contains a significant number of factual errors, mis- representations and personal attacks that misleads the read- ers on the question of Equality Act. He is peddling a disingenu- ous, woke liberal agenda of the Labour Party. The strategy to impose this foreign ideology on Malta is to silence, de-platform and mock those that oppose their soundbites. The article slanders those that accurately describe the Equality Act and oppose it, as 'homo- phobic', 'anti-feminist' and 're- ligious zealots'. The proposed Equality Act would take away many rights we as Maltese pres- ently enjoy and will harm free- dom of speech if enacted. Vella described several of us as if we are dangerous and 'minn wara l-muntanji': "a virulent mixture of anti-gay, anti-femi- nist, religious zealots." We are none of those things. It is not anti-gay to oppose the proposed Equality Act. Mr. Derek Spiteri – a gay man – is so opposed to this law that he went on a three-day hunger strike and slept outside parlia- ment to draw media attention to the potential human rights abuse and the harm it may cause to children by imposing teach- ing of ideologically tainted sex- ed on children as young as four. The paper Matthew Vella edits chose not to cover his protest. It is not anti-feminist to op- pose the Equality Act or abor- tion. For example, more female children are aborted than male. In the anti-abortion group "Abortion in Malta? Not in my name!" – with more than 32,000 followers on Facebook – has a majority of females members. You do not have to be a re- ligious zealot to oppose the Equality Act. While we will not deny Christ and will not apolo- gise for being normal practising Catholics, that does not make one a zealot. In fact, it makes one a part of the majority of the Maltese. As proof of anti-gay zealotry he wrote "Grech Mintoff ran his own anti-abortion tirade, losing thousands in defamation costs in favour of the Malta Gay Rights." But Vella should be aware that I have rejected this judgment and will be taking the cause further. Vella conflates a number of unrelated persons, parties, re- ligions to tar those that oppose the Equality Act with views they do not have. To take but one ex- ample of misrepresentation: Al- leanza Bidla was never a right- wing party. It had members from both the traditional left and right that were fed up with the way the large parties had di- verged from Malta's roots. The article also states that "the debate on Malta's Equality Act today shows, this religious, right-wing and fragmented op- position is dead set against en- forcing the equality of access to goods and services, and meri- torious employment practices, because it destabilises the privi- leges enjoyed by Church schools or religious organisations." What is called equality of ac- cess also implies the right of per- sons with a political agenda to force people to provide servic- es they do not wish to provide; services that go against their conscience, religious beliefs or personal integrity. For example, there was a Canadian case where a person born as a male and still in possession of male genitalia, but identifying as female, took female-only waxers to court for their refusal to provide the most intimate of female waxing ser- vices. When the female beauti- cians refused to wax 'her' penis and balls 'she' accused them of being 'transphobic' and denying 'her' womanhood. Several of the beauticians were forced out of business. The proposed Equality Act is lop-sided to the advantage of those requesting service even when it is the pursuit of a polit- ical agenda'. Equality of access must be balance with rights re- fuse service in cases which have religious, moral or intimate sig- nificance to the provider. The law as it is being proposed does not contain this balance and would be both unworkable and go against the moral values and beliefs of most Maltese. Deceitful description of the Equality Act Vella gives an insincere de- scription of the proposed Equality Act and an inaccurate – some may say deceitful – de- scription of our objections. The article cherry-picks the least damaging of the questions that have been raised regard- ing the Equality Act, studiously avoiding the really bad issues. Vella gives answers to these questions even if they haven't been officially answered by the minister and attorney general. And, worse still, his responses raise more questions than they answer. MaltaToday has a right to champion whatever minority agenda it chooses, but it should not misrepresent those attend- ing the parliamentary public sessions to inform the citizens of the proposed Equality Act as belonging to the fringe. Those present came from all walks of life and represented all differ- ent political, religious and ped- agogical beliefs. Those present include, teachers, professors, nurses, psychologists, phar- macists, parents, lawyers and representatives of the doctors' association. All spoke passion- ately for several hours against the act. It is deceitful of Vella to describe these concerned citi- zens as a group of a few right- wing religious bigots. If that truly is his view, then the over- whelming majority of the Mal- tese belong in this hateful cat- egory. And that I don't imagine Vella believes that. There is not much enthusi- asm in Parliament for this Act. In the last public session the only voice speaking in favour of the act in its present format was Dr Neil Falzon, the same person that authored MGRM's "Proposed gender Identity Act for Malta". He insisted in par- liament that "no religious entity will be able to deny any service based on its evaluation of one's sexual preference or special characteristics". This indicates that LGBT groups will be able to use this law against "religious entities" to demand "any service" from it. Including such services that the church normally would reserve for specific groups, such as the services of marriage or funeral. More egregious of all is that any conflict involving the Equal- ity Act will not be entrusted to the courts but be left to the sub- jective decision of a commissar that is appointed solely by the minister as a 'person of trust'. Once in front of the commis- sion you are already guilty un- less you prove your innocence. There is no court, no judge, no right to be represented by a lawyer, no right to challenge witnesses or the accuser and no right of appeal. This is a system outside the law and in contra- vention with all human rights. Vella bravely wrestled a straw man to the ground in order to denigrate any opposition but didn't want to grapple with the real issues. This is a sad testa- ment to a lack of democratic mindset and honest intentions of the editor. Editor's Note OF course, I respectfully dis- agree: my piece concerned the most egregious of opponents to the Equality Bill, having read the articles they penned in the press, their posts on social media, and their depositions to the House Committee. Every single reference I made was backed up by a previous news report online, or social media post, as those who read my on- line report can attest to. I also accompanied my piece with an FAQ on the Equality Act where I answered some of the untruths peddled by the opponents of this legislation. I'm glad Mr Grech Mintoff could have availed himself of MaltaToday to have his say. Ivan Grech Mintoff leads the Alleanza Bidla party Ivan Grech Mintoff LGBT groups will be able to use this law against "religious entities" to demand "any service" from it. Including such services that the church normally would reserve for specific groups, such as the services of marriage or funeral