Marriage Equality Bill ‘not just a change in title’

The introduction of gay marriage in Malta will not be a simple change in title to the civil unions legislation but amendments to the 1975 Marriage Act that will become known as the Marriage Equality Act.

The introduction of gay marriage – pledged by both the Labour and Nationalist parties in their electoral manifestos – is a civil liberties pledge that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat plans on introducing in the first few weeks of his second term in government.

The PN had in 2014 abstained on a bill that introduced civil unions because of its reservations on gay adoptions, but eventually came out in favour of gay marriage, with outgoing leader Simon Busuttil admitting that the decision to abstain on civil unions was a mistake.

When parliament reconvenes tomorrow following the 3 June snap elections, the first item on the agenda is the first reading of the Marriage Equality Bill – which the Nationalist opposition, although facing internal disagreements on the way the Bill has been drafted, pledged to support.

The Bill is not only going to grant rights to the LGBTIQ community but will also create new rights for heterosexual couples – including that of a husband taking on his wife’s surname, a right which is not covered by the present civil marriage legislation.

“The draft Bill will show that equality for us is a matter of principle,” Muscat said during a phone-in on One Radio this morning. “The change is not going to be a cosmetic one.”

Describing Dom Mintoff’s 1975 Marriage Act as “a landmark legislation”, Muscat said that not amending the legislation would have created to types of marriage: one for heterosexual couples, and one for gay couples. “That is not equality,” he added.

During the phone-in, the Prime Minister also expressed his pride in the speech delivered yesterday by President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, during the official opening of parliament.