IVF law ‘inherently homophobic’ – gay rights movement

MGRM hits out at IVF law, says gay parents will be forced to go abroad for medical service.

MGRM coordinator Gabi Calleja said the IVF bill was inherently homophobic due to its restrictive interpretation of what a family is.
MGRM coordinator Gabi Calleja said the IVF bill was inherently homophobic due to its restrictive interpretation of what a family is.

The Malta Gay Rights Movement has hit out at Malta's draft law for the regulation of in vitro fertilization, claiming the Embryo Protection Bill is discriminatory against gay parents and "inherently homophobic in nature".

MGRM coordinator Gabi Calleja said the exclusion of same-sex couples and single persons from the eligible prospective parents as defined in the law, went against basic human rights principles such as the right to found a family.

The Nationalist government, which is also planning to legislate for cohabitation rights for homosexual relationships, has said IVF will only be available for married couples or unmarried, opposite-sex couples in a stable relationship. The bill also prohibits surrogacy, which means electing another woman other than a married spouse to bear the child for another couple.

Calleja said a law that would deny medical treatment on the basis of sexual orientation would constitute a worrying precedent. "It has reaching implications and engenders serious doubts in the minds of lesbian and gay citizens on this government's commitment to equality."

The draft law also prohibits the donation of sperm and eggs, which would otherwise make it possible for single parents or gay couples to have children by IVF.

"The criminalisation of sperm and egg donation has absolutely nothing to do with the protection of the embryo and is based on a restrictive model of the family which no longer applies in today's world. MGRM reiterates that it is not the role of the State to determine who can or cannot become a parent and the introduction of this Act would constitute an unjustified intrusion in the private lives of individuals," Calleja said.

"It is truly shameful that LGBT persons will be forced to access reproductive health services in other countries at their own expense while subsidising the health services available to their heterosexual counterparts with their tax contributions, once again reinforcing the notion of second class citizenship." 

Calleja also said the Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity says states should take all necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure the right to found a family, including through access to adoption or assisted procreation (including donor insemination), without discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

"This principle has been upheld in a number of European Court of Human Rights judgements which in the case of Schalk and Kopf v. Austria held that same sex couples living in a stable relationship constitute family life and in a number of other cases held that states acted in violation of article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) when they treated cohabiting same-sex couples differently from cohabiting opposite-sex couples (P.B. and J.S. v. Austria; Karner v. Austria; & Kozak v. Poland)," Calleja said.

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Well said maltesecross and zulu777. Issa qazzuna er.. dawk . stop trying to re-invent nature you gays, you will not pass over us. Normal is normal.
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to maltesecross: (and anyone else of that opinion) All you need to do is take a few minutes to surf the Web, and you will discover that hundreds of thousands of gay people have children - and that those children get along just fine saying that they have "two daddies" or "two mommies". In fact, sociological experts have had over 20 years to study the phenomenon, and among other findings is the fact that the adopted children of gay parents are usually HAPPIER than those of regular parents. Among the reasons is that by nature, an adoptive parent must be REALLY ready to look after children, whereas we all know of families where "accidents" happened and often the entire family suffers either economically or psychologically. Oh, and children of gay parents tend to be more TOLERANT of differences. Isn't that a plus in our vicious, mean and bigoted world? THOSE are the facts, so perhaps it's time to get used to them...
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to maltesecross: (and anyone else of that opinion) All you need to do is take a few minutes to surf the Web, and you will discover that hundreds of thousands of gay people have children - and that those children get along just fine saying that they have "two daddies" or "two mommies". In fact, sociological experts have had over 20 years to study the phenomenon, and among other findings is the fact that the adopted children of gay parents are usually HAPPIER than those of regular parents. Among the reasons is that by nature, an adoptive parent must be REALLY ready to look after children, whereas we all know of families where "accidents" happened and often the entire family suffers either economically or psychologically. Oh, and children of gay parents tend to be more TOLERANT of differences. Isn't that a plus in our vicious, mean and bigoted world? THOSE are the facts, so perhaps it's time to get used to them...
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Qieghdin naqghu fir ril ridikolagni biex noghbu settur zghir tal popolazzjoni.
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Qieghdin naqghu fir ril ridikolagni biex noghbu settur zghir tal popolazzjoni.
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Jien ma ghandi xejn kontra dawn in-nies, imma ma naqbel xej li zewgt irgiel jew zewg nisa irabbu it-tfal. Xi haga ghalija li tmur kontra in-natura ta kull mahluq fid dinja. Li jghixu flimkien jaghmlu li iridu imma li jrabbu it tfal qatt ma ghandu jkun. Bhall ma qal xi hadd meta jigu ghal iskola...zewgt ommijiet jew zewg missirijiet....
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To the four geniuses that have commented previously: IVF is completely useless to couples who can naturally have children, so your arguments that children must be from a male and a female are completely irrelevant when it comes to IVF. The point of MGRM's statement is that it is unfair that straight couples who cannot conceive naturally have the right to procreate through scientific means, gay couples, who also pay taxes, cannot. This is not a natural issue, which is a social and political issue. People really need to get over the fact that some people are gay and just mind their own business.
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jekk xi ħadd jgħid xi ħaġa fuq familja dawn il-gays jieħdu għalijom. tridu taċċettaw il-fatt li il-liġi tan-natura tgħid li raġel u mara jistaw jipprokrejaw. qażżiżtu lil kulħadd issa. bl-iskuża tad-drittijiet hadd ma jista jitkellem bikhom
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"IVF law ‘inherently homophobic’ – gay rights movement. Personnally I am for gay rights but this is pure bull for two reasons. 1. Should IVF treatment be given to lesbians it would be discriminating against gay men. 2. It would be creating single mothers with all the fiscal problems this brings about. Let's make it clear I am not against helping single mothers but I am against the government creating more of them. If lesbians want to become mothers they should do what heterosexual females do, if they don't like it it is their problem and not the country's.
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Priscilla Darmenia
Nature demands that procreation is between a man and a woman. – I can never understand why gays and lesbians pretend to have children when they know that having a partner of the same sex cannot produce any offspring. – I wonder what their children would feel when they go to school and other children will talk about their mummy and daddy. They will tell them I do not have a mummy but I have two daddies or I do not have a daddy but I have two mummies.
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Jien nixtieq norganizza protesta ghax in-nisa jista' jkollhom tfal u ahna l-irgiel ma nistghux nohorgu tqal!!!!
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Li wieħed ikollu l-ulied mhuwiex dritt imma privileġġ. Id-dritt huwa li kull wild li jitwieled ikollu omm u missier.
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...."restrictive model of the FAMILY which no longer applies to TODAY'S world" ....mind boggling