Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1516098
A day in the second week of February 1994. Possibly a Thursday or a Friday. Ġużè Chetcuti, my uncle, and I are enjoying a hot drink at his flat in Għar il-Lenbi Street, Sliema. Occasionally, the background noise of the television intrudes into our conversation but not enough to interrupt it. That is until a news bulletin announc- es that the widely-followed programme Pjazza Tlieta was planning to debate homosexu- ality on 15 February 1994. The programme pledged to stage a serious debate on homosexu- ality — apparently, the first of its kind in Malta. I had long disclosed my ho- mosexuality and activism to my uncle. He also knew the reason behind my 1994 visit to Malta... to undertake prelimi- nary research into homosexu- ality on the island. By then, I had disclosed my sexuality and my activism to many others. Among them, my uncle's close friend, the award-winning poet, theatre director, and educator Mario Azzopardi. After the news bul- letin, my uncle proffered some advice, "You can forget about ever working in Malta if you take part in the programme." While working in Malta was the furthest thing from my mind, I needed no convincing that activism often comes in the way of writing about the past, a task that must always be discharged with logic and evidence in mind. Someone — possibly Mario — must have alerted Lou Bondì, the presenter of Pjaz- za Tlieta, that I was visiting the island and a few days be- fore it was scheduled to air, I received a telephone call from Lou. He asked me to join a panel of 'experts' that includ- ed a priest and a psychologist. The offer was tantalising, but one that I declined. I thought little of that call until a cou- ple of hours before the pro- gramme was set to go on air. On the day of the pro- gramme, Azzopardi must have spent hours trying to track me down. He finally located me at the Student Travel Service, then situated along St Paul's Street, Valletta, where I was visiting a family friend; and only a couple of hours before the scheduled start of the pro- gramme. My decision to pass over the invitation floored him. "Ġuż", as he was in the habit of calling me, "You have to un- derstand the impact of a pro- fessional man publicly coming out in Malta? You must not miss out on this opportunity." Incredibly, no professional Maltese homosexual had ever come out in the media. So, I decided to switch to campaign mode. I telephoned Lou to let him know that I had changed my mind, and I was willing to join the panel. It was too late. Lou had already drafted Charles, another homosexual, onto the panel. He invited me to join the audience, an offer I refused. I explained that, if I were to participate in the programme, it would be inap- propriate for a homosexual to play a subordinate role to that of the panel of 'experts'. Lou understood where I was com- ing from, and he decided to talk to Charles who was happy to switch roles. With Pjazza Tlieta some two hours away, I hurriedly left Valletta for my guest house in Sliema to shower and make myself look 'respectable', as lawyers in Malta must do! And to gather my thoughts. I knew next to nothing about Pjazza Tlieta, possibly the most popular programme on Maltese television. I never im- agined it would turn out to be a significant moment in Mal- ta's emerging gay and lesbian history. Mind you, some 25 years after the Stonewall Riots! By 1994, I had already clocked up some 22 years of activism in Australia's gay movement. I joined CAMP, Australia's first political homosexual or- ganisation, in 1972. In 1973, I became a founding member of the Catholic subgroup of CAMP. I was a regular at demon- strations. I protested outside Darlinghurst's Sacred Heart Church, my former parish church, until a strong-mind- ed priest and his parishioners moved us off the steps of the church. I protested outside Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral following the sacking of Mike Clohesy from a Marist Broth- ers-run school in Eastwood. In 1978, I joined Sydney's first maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 FEBRUARY 2024 8 OPINION 30 years ago: Pjazza Tlieta, homosexuality and I Joseph Carmel Chetcuti is a lawyer and gay rights activist Joseph Carmel Chetcuti Joseph Carmel Chetcuti with Guze Chetcuti and Mario Azzopardi Lawyers in Malta are as 'respectable' as they are loud, and, as respectable people go, there wasn't a single homosexual lawyer with the courage to come out publicly. Indeed, not even a professional homosexual man or woman.