For a country so deeply entrenched in Orthodox Catholicism that the concept of divorce did not legally exist till 2011, Malta has just done the unexpected, they have just legalised same-sex marriage.

This is unexpected, unprecedented even. Despite strong opposition and lobbying by Malta’s clergy (and they have considerable influence on Malta’s politics) only one of its 67 Members of Parliament voted against the amendment of the Marriage Act to encompass all people. Malta’s new Marriage Act is important because it not only gives LGBT people and sexual minorities the legal backing of the law to marry, it also encompasses parenting, a hot topic that is often still restricted for legally married LGBT people. The new laws have changed the very terms used to describe married people, from “husband” and “wife” to a gender-neutral “spouse”, and “father” and “mother” to “parent who gave birth” and “parent who didn’t give birth”. After all, if we are going to get gender equity we need to divest ourselves of the traditional notion of spousal and parental roles.

While the law is in place now, we’ll have to wait over the next year to see how the law is rolled out and implemented. But if you are a sexual minority looking to get married in a picturesque country, Malta might be a place to consider now.

Isn’t that amazing?

Editor