Said vows to reintroduce ‘mother’ and ‘father’ into law when in government

PN leadership contender says adopting generic ‘parent’ term in law came at a price for society that could easily have been avoided

Chris Said is contesting the PN leadership
Chris Said is contesting the PN leadership

PN leadership contender Chris Said said this morning that, if he got the opportunity to a lead a Nationalist government, he would reintroduce into Maltese legislation the concepts of ‘mother’ and ‘father’, replaced in the recent parliamentary debate on marriage equality by the generic ‘parent’.

In a statement, Said said that he – like almost all his colleagues on the opposition bench – voted with the government on the Marriage Equality Bill in June, because that had been laid down in the PN’s electoral manifesto and because it was the right thing to do.

“Yet, the enactment of this law came at a price for our society that could have easily been spared,” he said. “Having the definitions of father and mother removed from our body of laws to be replaced by the more generic ‘parent’ impoverished our laws and downgraded the two most important roles in our society, irrespective of whether they are occupied by straight or gay people.”

Said insisted that a gay man who adopts a child has every right to be called a father and a lesbian who adopts a child has every right to see her role defined as mother.

“It is for this reason that I pledge that if I am given the privilege to lead a future Nationalist Government I would ensure that without opening any debate or putting at risk any gender equality rights that are now secured, ensure that the concept of mother and father is re-introduced in the laws of our country, together with the more generic term of parent for those wishing to be represented by that term,” he said.

Said is vying to replace outgoing PN leader Simon Busuttil, in a four-way race including Adrian Delia, Alex Perici Calascione and Frank Portelli.