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Karl Schembri
The Maltese gay community is preparing to organise the first ever Gay Pride march to be held here next month in Valletta.
Republic Street, formerly known as Kingsway, will turn into Queensway on 22 July when gays, lesbians and bisexuals will march from City Gate to St George’s Square outside Parliament carrying rainbow flags.
The coordinator of the Malta Gay Rights Movement, Sandro Mangion, says the event is not just for gays, but for all citizens who believe in equality. MGRM chose the slogan, “Gay Rights? Human Rights,” for this event.
“You don’t have to be gay to join us,” Sandro Mangion says. “Our message is that we want a community which respects individual rights irrespective of race, belief, disability, gender, sexual orientation and age. Gay rights are ultimately human rights, and that is relevant to whoever values equality.”
MGRM will be inviting NGOs, politicians and even religious organisations to join it in the march.
But the event is expected to be a far cry from the gay pride parades organised in big cities abroad, with their customary drag queens dancing on flamboyant floats and blasting techno-pop music.
“Our intention is more political than entertaining,” Mangion said. “In other countries gay pride has evolved into a colourful cultural event in its own right, attracting thousands. This is our first experiment so we’ll have to build on the feedback we get. We prefer building bridges.”
In fact, since it was established a couple of years ago, MGRM has been lobbying with the government to ban discrimination against gays at the work place, while gaining the support of institutions and other NGOs.
Also next month, MGRM is expected to launch its gay helpline. Mangion says that more gays and lesbians are “coming out of the closet” although family pressure and homophobic attitudes of close friends can make this a traumatic experience.
Last Sunday, more than 1 million people marched in Sao Paulo’s gay pride parade, waving rainbow flags as they flowed through the Brazilian city’s main thoroughfare, breaking the world record for such an event. The parade’s numbers surpassed in size all other gay pride marches, including those of New York and Toronto, among the world’s biggest. Sao Paulo’s parade was attended by the city’s Mayor and leader of the ruling Workers’ Party.
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