Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/847822
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 12 JULY 2017 8 TIM DIACONO MALTA will make another leap forward in LGBT rights this evening, with gay mar- riage set to be legalised. Ahead of this historic mo- ment, MaltaToday randomly approached people going about their everyday lives in Republic Street to get their take on it. Out of the 25 people who agreed to speak on camera, most said they agreed with or had no problem with gay marriage – with the most common argument being that gay people should have the same rights as everybody else. "I agree 100%... everyone has the right to live their life," a middle-aged man said. "I think they deserve the right to be married, be- cause we're equal and there shouldn't be a difference be- tween a man who marries a woman and a man who mar- ries a man," a young man said. "I think they should be given this right. Had I been gay, I would have wanted that right…". An elderly gay man said that although he does not intend to get married himself, other gay people should be given the same rights as everyone else. "Why shouldn't we have the same rights as other people? We pay taxes like everyone else…" A young man who was ex- iting court admitted that he hadn't even heard about the plan to legalise gay marriage. When it was explained to him, he said that he agreed with the proposal. "I don't see anything wrong with it. Everyone has their thing…it's not going to affect me," he said. However, a handful of peo- ple said that they disagreed with the proposal – with an elderly man sitting in the shade by St John's Co-Cathe- dral admitting that it went against his "strong and fer- vent" Catholic convictions. A young woman warned that gay couples will "confuse" the children they adopt, while an elderly man said that, while he agrees with civil unions, people get married so as to have children. "Even with animals…it's al- ways a male and a female…" Meanwhile, a Franciscan priest warned that the ma- jority are not always correct, noting that even Hitler and Mussolini had been elected to power by the people. "You know what happened when Pilate asked the crowd to choose between Jesus Christ and Barabbas. They said 'crucif y him, crucif y him'. That's the same story for Christians." News 64 parking spaces envisioned for Dingli hotel JAMES DEBONO PLANS for a new hotel instead of the abandoned explosives factory in Dingli foresee 64 parking spac- es in an underground car park. The newly published plans foresee the demolition of the existing explosives factory and its redevelopment onto an Eco- Spa. The proposed development would require the excavation of the site to create three under- ground levels, two of them ear- marked for parking and storage and another for a restaurant, spa, a kitchen, a bar lounge and a reception. Two pools will be located at ground level. The hotel rooms are located on 11 separate blocks. Various indigenous trees are foreseen to mitigate the visual impact. Development is limited to the footprint of the existing building. The Pulvich Explosives Indus- tries Ltd is no longer in use, and the present building includes 36 stores – each the size of a large garage. The application was presented by La Toc Hotels Limited, a company formed in 2014 and owned by Dirk Hili, Bianca Anastasi and Veli Hold- ings. La Toc hotel has recently opened the La Folceneria hotel in Valletta. In the application La Toc Ho- tels declare that they are not the owners of the site but have been given the consent of the owners to submit the applica- tion on their land. The original permit for the development of the explosives factory had been issued in 1977. Another application presented in 1994 to erect a store in the existing factory was also re- fused. In 2000, both the PA and its appeals board refused an ap- plication that had been present- ed by Edgar Pugliesevich and which envisaged the re-use of existing industrial premises at Dingli for educational and agri- cultural use and for residential purposes. The application had envisaged the development of five residen- tial units, built over a footprint of 1,500sq.m. People are pretty relaxed about Malta legalising gay marriage today Random approach to people on Republic Street showed that most agreed with Malta's historic milestone in LGBT rights Scenic: The site for the proposed hotel in Dingli