BBC News: MP sets civil ceremony precedent

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/7639581.stm
27.9.8

Treasury Minister Angela Eagle has become the first female MP to tie theknot in a civil partnership. The Labour MP for Wallasey and Maria Exall, her partner of 18 years, madethe commitment at Southwark Register Offices in south London. Ms Eagle, 47, was involved in bringing in the Labour government's CivilPartnerships Act of 2004. Ms Eagle's twin sister Maria said: It's been great, everyone was verypleased and they are very much in love." About 50 guests witnessed the ceremony and were heading to Ms Eagle's homefor a reception. Political meeting Further celebrations were planned for a Clapham pub, where Commons LeaderHarriett Harman was expected to be among the guests. Ms Harman announced her colleague's engagement at the TUC Congress in Brighton earlier this month. Ms Eagle met Ms Exall, a BT engineer, at the Peckham Labour Party. Ms Eagle, who has been the MP for Wallasey since 1992, is the only openlygay woman in the House of Commons. Shadow business secretary Alan Duncan became the first Tory MP to enter into a civil partnership in July, when he wed his partner, James Dunseath.

Kullħadd: Il-battalja ta’ Joanne Cassar tkompli f’Ottubru li gej

http://www.kullhadd.com/?task=2&sectid=&articleid=11970
21.9.8; minn Randolph de Battista

Fit-22 t’Ottubru li gej, fil-Qorti Kostituzzjonali ta’ Malta mistenni jinstema’ l-kaz ta’ Joanne Cassar, il-persuna li qieghda titlob lill-Awtoritajiet biex jirrikonoxxu d-dritt taghha li tizzewweg.

Joanne li llum hija rikonoxxuta bhala mara wara operazzjoni irriversibbli maghrufa bhala “gender re-assignment”, hadet il-kaz taghha quddiem l-oghla Qorti f’pajjizna, sabiex thassar decizjoni li ttiehdet ftit tax-xhur ilu u li cahhdet id-dritt taz-zwieg lil Joanne.

F’Mejju li ghadda, il-Prim Awla tal-Qorti Civili sahqet li fil-ligi taz-zwieg, persuna transesswali mhix u ma tistax titqies li hija mara. Dan minkejja li Joanne Cassar kienet digà inghatat dan id-dritt fi Frar tas-sena l-ohra, f’decizjoni ta’ l-Imhallef Gino Camilleri deskritta bhala “storika”. Fis-sentenza tieghu, l-Imhallef kien qal li “dan mhuwiex kontra l-ordni pubbliku peress li hu zwieg bejn zewg persuni ta’ sess differenti.”

Jirrizulta li f’ghajnejn il-ligi, Joanne Cassar hija meqjusa bhala mara, tant li b’ordni tal-Qorti, sar it-tibdil necessarju sabiex fil-karta ta’ l-identità u fic-certifikat tat-twelid hija tkun imnizzla bhala ta’ sess femminili.

Issa Joanne qed tfittex l-ahhar rimedju lokali, sabiex tiehu dak li trid. KullHadd huwa nfurmat li f’kaz li l-Qorti Kostituzzjonali ta’ pajjizna jiddeciedi kontra li Cassar tizzewweg, hija lesta li tiehu l-kaz taghha gewwa Strasburgu, quddiem il-Qorti tad-Drittijiet tal-Bniedem, hekk kif qed issib appogg qawwi mill-European Lesbians and Gays Association”.

L-ELGA sahansitra ghandha fond specjalizzat biex jghin persuni bhal Joanne jiggieldu ghad-drittijiet taghhom. Il-kaz ta’ Joanne qajjem interess kbir f’pajjizna hekk kif numru ta’ ghaqdiet urew l-appogg taghhom lejn Joanne, u persuni transesswali ohrajn u sahqu li jekk dawn huma rikonoxxuti bhala nisa f’ghajnejn il-ligi u anke sahansitra fuq ic-certifikat tat-twelid, mela allura ghandu jkollhom id-dritt li jizzewgu persuni ta’ sess maskili.

Mill-informazzjoni li ghandu KullHadd jirrizulta li l-kaz quddiem il-Qorti Kostituzzjonali dam iktar mis-soltu sabiex jigi appuntat minhabba li l-Imhallef li ghandu gie assenjat il-kaz, astjena minhabba ragunijiet ta’ morali.

It-Torċa: L-Omosesswalità: Dawra Durella ma' Elsie Caruana u Mons. Anton Gauci

http://www.it-torca.com/ (Din l-ittra lill-editur mhix fuq il-website s'issa)
21.9.8; minn Joseph Carmel Chetcuti, MA Hons, LLB Hons, Lic Theo, Melbourne
(Din hi l-ittra oriġinali li mhix editjata. Fit-Torċa dehret ftit iqsar biex toqgħod ġo faċċata waħda)

Aqra l-ittri ta’ nies bħal Elsie Caruana (għalliema) u Anton Gauci (monsinjur) u malajr tinduna għaliex il-moviment omosesswali kiseb tant suċċessi kontra dawk l-aspetti fundamentalisti tar-reliġjon kattolika. Kummenti banali, tfarrik ta’ l-iskrittura, kwotazzjonijiet barra l-kuntest u taħwid ta’ x’inhi u x’tirrappreżenta l-fidi kattolika.

DWAR IL-PLURALIZMU
Skond l-għarfa għalliema, il-midja Maltija għandha twarrab lill-omosesswali fil-ġenb. Nistaqsi: minn meta l-midja Maltija saret bord ta’ ċensura? Hu r-rwol tal-midja li tiċċensura l-libertà tal-ħsieb u l-espressjoni? Għaliex l-omosesswali m’għandux isemmi leħnu minn fuq il-midja Maltija? Mela l-omosesswali m’għandux il-jedd bħal ħaddieħor? Il-kattoliċi konservattivi biss huma ċittadini? Huma biss iħallsu t-taxxa? Għaliex il-ġerarkija tal-knisja biss għandha twassal il-messaġġ tagħha? Għaliex għandu jkun hemm qanpiena waħda fil-midja Maltija?
Allura drittijiet kostituzzjonali ma jiswew xejn quddiem il-propaganda tal-ġerarkija kattolika? F’artiklu 41, il-Kostituzzjoni ta’ Malta tgħid hekk: "(1) ħlief bil-kunsens tiegħu stess jew bħala dixxiplina tal-ġenituri, ħadd ma għandu jiġi mfixkel fit-tgawdija tal-libertà tiegħu ta’ espressjoni, magħduda libertà li jkollu fehmiet mingħajr indħil, libertà li jirċievi idejiet u tagħrif mingħajr indħil, libertà li jikkomunika idejiet u tagħrif mingħajr indħil (kemm jekk il-komunikazzjoni tkun lill-pubbliku in ġenerali jew lil xi persuna jew klassi ta’ persuni) u libertà minn indħil dwar il-korrispondenza tiegħu."
U f’artiklu 40: "Il-persuni kollha f’Malta għandu jkollhom libertà sħiħa ta’ kuxjenza u jgawdu l-eżerċizzju liberu tal-mod rispettiv tagħhom ta’ qima reliġjuża."
Dawn huma drittijiet li l-Kostituzzjoni ta’ Malta tiggarantixxi. Ma jgawduhomx biss il-kattoliċi konservattivi. Anke dawk li ma jaqblux mal-papa preżenti, fosthom dawk li dehrilhom li l-elezzjoni tal-papa Ratzinger kienet "ċajta goffa" daqs kemm huma goffi ż-żraben ħomor tiegħu.

DWAR IT-TFARRIK TAZ-ZWIEĠ MILL-OMOSESSWALI

Lil Caruana u Gauci nistaqsihom: tistgħu tgħarrfuni kif jien ­ persuna omosesswali - qed infarrak iż-żwieġ eterosesswali? Mhux allegazzjonijiet biss. PROVI.

Forsi għandkom f’raskom li xi omosesswali "jittantaw" jew "iħajjru" lill-miżżewġin jiżfnu ż-żifna tas-sodomija? Hemm omosesswali li jħajjru u jittantaw lill-miżżewġin u lill-eterosesswali. Kif hemm miżżewġin u eterosesswali li jittantaw u jħajjru lill-omosesswali. U kif hemm eterosesswali jittantaw u jħajjru eterosesswali oħra.

Tafu għaliex persuna "eterosesswali" tmur għal persuna omosesswali? Risposta: għax dik il-persuna mhix "eterosesswali". Hi bisesswali jew omosesswali. Forsi żżewġet minħabba pressjoni mill-familja jew biex tidher "normali" fis-soċjetà. Imma xorta baqgħet omosesswali minkejja li hi miżżewġa u li għandha ruxxmata ta’ tfal. Kif baqgħu omosesswali dawk l-uħud jew il-ħafna li saru qassisin u patrijiet.

Isimghu l-ħmerijiet tagħkom: il-miżżewġin u l-eterosesswali huma tant boloh u debboli li jaqgħu għal kull min jittanthom jew iħajjarhom. Mhix opinjoni sabiħa tal-miżżewġin u ta’ l-eterosesswali. Allura, ngħid jien, l-eterosesswali huma daqstant bla sinsla? Jekk huma tant debboli, kif tgħid l-għalliema, mhux aħjar dinja mingħajrhom?

Ma nafx jekk iż-żwieġ hux imfarrak illum iktar milli kien fl-imgħoddi. Forsi llum il-miżżewġin iħossuhom iktar liberi jaħarbu minn relazzjonijiet oppressivi. ‘aġa tajba. Għalhekk Malta għandha ddaħħal id-divorzju. Iżda jekk hu minnu li ż-żwieġ eterosesswali qed jitkisser, it-tkissir hu tort ta’ l-eterosesswali stess. Tgħabbux l-omosesswali bin-nuqqasijiet tagħkom eterosesswali!

IL-LIĠI TA’ ALLA U L-LIĠI TAL-KNISJA

Gauci jsemmi l-liġi ta’ Alla u l-liġi tal-knisja. U hemm il-liġi divina (din, naħseb, ta’ Alla wkoll) u l-liġi naturali. U ma ninsewx il-liġi ta’ l-attrazzjoni. Iżda din ta’ l-aħħar, naħseb jien, ftit tinteressa lill-monsinjur. Dwar dik ta’ Alla, Gauci jinsisti li ħadd ma jista’ jbiddilha, lanqas il-papa, il-kardinali jew l-isqfijiet.

X’tifhem, ħabib, bl-espressjoni "il-liġi ta’ Alla"? L-għaxar kmandamenti? L-iskrittura? It-tradizzjoni? Il-maġisterjum tal-knisja? Skond ir-reliġjon kattoliku, dawn mhux kollha aspetti tal-liġi ta’ Alla?

U la darba l-liġi ta’ Alla, kif tgħid int, qatt ma tinbidel, taf tgħidli x’ġara minn dawk li kielu zalzetta nhar ta’ Ġimgħa u spiċċaw fin-nirien ta’ l-infern? Għadhom hemm, monsinjur? U dawk it-tfal innoċenti li marru l-limbu li, skond dan il-papa preżenti, m’għadux jeżisti, issa fejn spiċċaw dawn l-innoċenti? Il-limbu ma kienx parti mit-tradizzjoni kattolika? Se tagħmlu apoloġija lil dawk il-ġenituri li tnikktu għax beżgħu li t-trabi tagħhom spiċċaw hemm? U dawk il-laburisti li dfintuhom fil-miżbla, għadhom l-infern?
Issa toqgħodx tiddistingwi bejn il-liġi ta’ Alla u dik tal-knisja. Eternità infern mhix ħaġa taċ-ċajt. Tużawx il-liġi ta’ Alla biex issawtu l-proxxmu. Ngħid għalija, nippreferi l-liġi umana għax din iktar ħanina mill-liġi ta’ Alla tagħkom, Alla tal-kartapesta.

DWAR L-ISKRITTURA

Skond Gauci, min jemmen f’Alla u fil-kelma Tiegħu (jew Tagħha) ma hemmx kwistjoni ta’ "żminijiet u ċirkostanzi differenti." M’hemmx bżonn napplikaw l-iskrittura għal żmenijietna. U ninsew l-iżviluppi xjentifiċi kollha li saru f’dawn l-aħħar elfejn sena. U nibqgħu nemmnu li d-dinja tagħna ċatta. U li d-dinja tagħna ċ-ċentru ta’ l-univers.
‘allina, monsinjur. Insejt x’qal fl-1996 il-papa Ġwanni Pawlu II fil-messaġġ tiegħu lill-Akkademja Pontifikali tax-Xjenzi dwar it-teorija ta’ l-evoluzzjoni: "In order to delineate the field of their own study, the exegete and the theologian must keep informed about the results achieved by the natural sciences" (Fiedler, M et al, Rome Has spoken: A Guide to forgotten papal statements, and How They Have Changed Through the Centuries, paġna 40). Lest tilqa’ l-isfida tal-Papa Ġwanni Pawlu II, monsinjur?
Fejn huma l-manuskritti oriġinali tal-Bibbja? Dawk li għandna huma traduzzjonijiet biss. U kulħadd igerfex! U kulħadd iżid! U kulħadd jinterpreta! Anke x-xitan jaf jikkwota l-Bibbja. Mhux hekk, monsinjur? U jekk il-Bibbja hi inkonsistenti, ta’ min hu t-tort, ngħid jien?

DWAR L-IMBERKIN SODOMA U GOMORRA

Ikompli l-kummiedji. Dejjem skond Caruana u Gauci, Alla farrak lil dawn iż-żewġt ibliet minħabba l-omosesswali prattikanti. Ara x’faqgħa ta’ bliet kienu fejn kważi kulħadd kien pufta jew lesbjana! Forsi minn hemm beda l-Mardi Gras!
U x’tgħidilha fuq il-kliem ta’ Eżekjel (16:49-50): "dan kien il-ħażen ta’ oħtok Sodoma: kburija, xaba’ ta’ ħobż u sliem bla ħsieb kellha hi u wliedha, id il-fqir u l-miskin ma weżnitx, u tkabbru u tagħmlu egħmil mistkerrah quddiemi, u warrabthom malli rajt (dan)."
U kif setgħu l-irġiel ta’ Sodoma kienu omosesswali meta Lot offrilhom iż-żewġt ibniet tiegħu (Ġenesi 19:8)? Lot miġnun? Omosesswali rġiel, irġiel iridu mhux bniet! Mela Sodoma u Gomorra kienet iktar dwar l-eterosesswali milli dwarna l-omosesswali.
U skond Luqa (17:28-29): "Hekk ukoll bħalma ġara fi żmien Lot: kienu jieklu u jixorbu, ibiegħu u jixtru, iħawlu u jibnu; imma dak in-nhar li ħareġ Lot minn Sodoma, kienet xita mis-sema tan-nar u kubrit li qered lil kulħadd." Forsi, ngħid jien, dawk li kienu jieklu u jixorbu, ibiegħu u jixtru, iħawlu u jibnu, kienu omosesswali!
U skond Mattew (10: 14-15): "Jekk xi ħadd ma jilqagħkomx u ma jismax kliemkom, oħorġu min dik id-dar u minn dik il-belt u farfru t-trab ta’ riġlejkom. Ngħidilkom is-sewwa, li jkun eħfef f’jum il-ħaqq għal art Sodom u Gomorra, milli għal dik il-belt." U għalhekk ikollok tikkonkludi, monsinjur, li n-nuqqas ta’ ospitalità hu inqas gravi mis-"sodomija".
U jekk baqa’ żmien, monsinjur, ikkonsulta l-Mishnah li tgħid li d-dnub ta’ Sodoma kien dwar il-proprjetà.

Fejn ix-xitan daħħaltu f’raskom li d-dnubiet ta’ Sodoma u Gomorra kienu dawk tas-sodomija. U fl-aħħar mill-aħħar, is-sodomija mhix monopolju ta’ l-omosesswali. Igawduha wkoll l-eterosesswali. Atti sesswali huma atti sesswali tkun xi tkun l-orjentazzjoni sesswali tal-persuna. Allura, monsinjur, għaliex ma tiffokax fuq l-atti u mhux fuq l-orjentazzjoni sesswali ta’ xi wħud li jidħlu għal dawn l-atti. Fejn huma l-ittri pastorali dwar is-sodomija bejn l-eterosesswali? Forsi tattakkawna għax aħna minoranza. Intkom imdorrijin tagħtu bis-sieq li min taħsbu li hu dgħajjef biex dejjem tidhru li qed tirbħu u biex tidhru iktar b’saħħitkom u ħelwin milli intkom.
Dwar il-miskin San Pawl li bħalek, monsinjur, qatt ma żżewweġ, ngħid hekk: San Pawl tkellem dwar ċerti atti sesswali f’kuntest ta’ żina. Mhux f’kuntest ta’ relazzjoni ta’ mħabba. San Pawl ma fehemx l-omosesswalità bħala orjentazzjoni sesswali imma biss bħala att. X’tistenna minn wieħed li ma tantx kien iħobb in-nisa? Aqra x’jgħid l-isqof John Shelby Spong fuq sieħbek San Pawl.
U dawn xi ħmerijiet huma? Tippriedka t-tolleranza lejn l-omosesswali? B’liema dritt tagħmel hekk, ħabib monsinjur? Mela int ikbar minn Alla? Insejt x’tordna l-iskrittura? L-iskrittura tordna l-mewt għar-raġel li għamel ma’ ieħor (Levitiku 20:13). Oqtol, monsinjur, għax hekk tordna l-iskrittura. Oqtol ukoll min jidgħi lil missieru u ommu (Levitiku 20: 9) u min jiżni ma’ mart għajru (Levitiku 20:10). Hekk tgħid l-iskrittura.

DWAR IT-TRADIZZJONI

X’tifhem b’"tradizzjoni"? Qrajt il-ktieb ta’ John Boswell? Kien hemm liturġija kattolika għal koppji omosesswali? U l-qaddisin Kosma u Damjanu kienu omosesswali? Xi tgħid dwar ir-relazzjoni bejn David u Jonathan? Taħseb li din kienet ta’ xeħta omosesswali (aqra 1 Sam 20:30)?

Ġesù approva relazzjonijiet omosesswali għax Ġesu qatt ma kkundannahom. Jew Ġesù Alla jew bniedem. Jekk nesa’ jitkellem dwar l-omosesswali li, skond kliemek, tant jagħmlu ħsara, ma kien Alla xejn għax Alla ma jinsiex.

U t-tradizzjoni ma tinbidilx, monsinjur? Ftit eżempji ta’ kemm int żbaljat.
Sa’ l-1866, il-Vatikan kien tal-fehma li ma kien hemm xejn ħażin fil-jasar ta’ xi bnedmin għax il-jasar, dejjem skond il-Vatikan, la kien kontra l-liġi divina u lanqas il-liġi naturali: "Slavery itself ... is not at all contrary to the natural and divine law" (Fiedler, bħal qabel, paġna 85).
Il-papa Piju IX (1866) u l-Kummissjoni Pontifikali tal-Bibbja (1909) opponew u kkundannaw it-teorijia ta’ l-evoluzzjoni għax din kienet kontra l-iskrittura u t-tradizzjoni. Issa, skond Joe Mizzi: "L-evoluzzjoni hi l-filosofija fundamentali ta’ religjonijiet bhal Buddizmu u l-Hinduizmu, kif ukoll tar-religjon moderna tal-punent, l-umanizmu sekulari. Darwin ta kredibiltà xjentifika lil din il-filosofija bil-pubblikazzjoni tal-ktieb The Origin of Species fl-1859." Alla veru ħoloq il-bniedem skond Ġenesi u d-dinja f’sitt ijiem, monsinjur?

U dwar il-libertà reliġjuża, Santu Wistin jgħid: "There is unjust persecution, which the impious commit against the Church of Christ, and there is just persecution, which the churches of Christ commit against the impious ... The Church persecutes out of love and the impious out of cruelty" (l-istess ktieb, 46). M’intkomx boloh?

"NITĦASSAR LIL GAUCI"

Titħassarx lill-omosesswali, monsinjur. Nitħassrek jien, ħabib, li wara snin twal fil-knisja qed turi l-limitazzjonijiet tiegħek preċiżament f’dawk il-ħwejjeġ li int tippretendi taf xi ħaġa.
U f’ġieħ il-ħaqq u s-sewwa, għaliex tikkwota biss dawk ix-xjenzati li għandhom rabta mal-knisja kattolika. Ma tafx li ZENIT hi magħmula minn professjonisti u voluntieri kattoliċi? X’tistenna minn riċerkatur li jippartjeni xi għaqda kattolika bħall-Catholic Medical Association? Mhix fil-kompetenza tal-knisja kattolika li tiddeċiedi jekk l-orjentazzjoni omosesswali hix marda jew le.
Issa ippermettili nfakkrek x’tgħid il-liġi ta’ Alla. Alla tiegħek qabad u sabbat it-trabi ta’ Babel mal-blat (Salmi 137, 7-9). Skond Alla tiegħek, kull mara li titlob jew tipprofetizza b’rasha mikxufa tagħmel għajb lil rasha (1 Korintin 5). Alla tiegħek ordna li l-mara għandu jkollha fuq rasha sinjal tal-jedd (tar-raġel) minħabba l-anġli (1 Korintin 11). Alla Tiegħek ikompli għaddej bil-ħmerijiet: in-nisa għandhom jibqgħu siekta fil-ġemgħat (1 Korintin 34). Skond Alla, jekk mara trid titgħallem xi ħaġa għandha tistaqsi lil żewġha (1 Korintin 35). Allura, monsinjur, taħseb li l-gvern ta’ Gonzi għandu jippermetti n-nisa jmorru l-università? U x’nambu iktar nisa avukati u nisa tobba jew nisa politikanti, monsinjur? Professjonijiet mingħajr nisa. L-istess kwadru kif insibu fil-ġerarkija kattolika. B’kull rispett, monsinjur, nies li jinterpretaw l-iskrittura litteralment iwaqqgħu l-istess skrittura għan-nejk. Nies bħal dawn għadhom jgħixu fid-dawl bati tal-lampa tal-pitrolju!

U issa li int tant tħobb il-liġi ta’ Alla, taf tgħidli għaliex isejħulek "Fr" meta Gesu stess ordna li ħadd m’għandu jissejjaħ "missier" għax wieħed hu l-Imgħallem u wieħed il-Missier (Mattew 23:8-10)? U fejn Alla ordnalek tilbes żraben bil-bokkli, faxex ħomor u mitri sbieħ? Komplu għawġu l-liġi ta’ Alla kif jaqbilkom.
Il-paċi miegħek.

It-Torċa: Skjavi u Omosesswali: L-ostiltà u l-indifferenza Vatikana lejn persuni gay - Ħtieġa ta’ bini ta’ pontijiet

www.it-torca.com (Dan l-artiklu mhux fuq il-website s'issa)
21.9.8; minn SAMMY SAMMUT

Kitbiet li qrajna u priedki li smajna dwarhom dan l-aħħar dwar l-omosesswalità fakkruna fid-dibattiti sħan li kienu saru fl-Amerika snin ilu dwar l-iskjavitù meta l-falliment li jinstab kompromoss wassal għal gwerra ċivili li ħalliet warajha katastrofi sħiħa, b’telfien ta’ tant ħajjiet. Iżda l-iskjavitù, bħall-omosesswalità, ma kienx battalja politika dwar kwistjoni li setgħet tkun innegozjata; aktar minn hekk kienet battalja morali li ma setgħetx twassal għal kompromess. Jekk xejn, kienet qanqlet kuxjenza kontra definizzjoni li kienet qed tmajna. L-iskjavitù ma setax ikun parzjalment morali jew morali taħt ċerti ċirkostanzi. Jew kien morali, jew inkella mmorali. Ma kienx hemm triq tan-nofs.

Fid-dibattitu dwar l-iskjavitù, dawk b’kuxjenza ġdida kienu ċari fl-argumenti tagħhom: il-bniedem uman ma jistax jinżamm imjassar. Din il-kuxjenza ġdida sfidat definizzjonijiet li kienu jissuġġerixxu li ċerti nies ma kienux jikkwalifikaw bħala bnedmin umani, li xi wħud kienu primittivi, maħluqin biex jobdu u jservu, li ma kienu tajbin għal xejn ħlief għal xogħol manwali. F’din id-definizzjoni, l-iskjavitù kien magħdud bħala moralment aċċettat u dawk li kienu jaqblu ma’ dan kienu jemmnu li l-iskjavitù kien virtù. U waqt li kienu jikkwotaw mill-Bibbja biex isostnu l-argumenti tagħhom, kienu jgħidu li b’dan il-mod, l-ilsier kien qed igawdi mill-benefiċċji ta’ ħajja u saħħa aħjar, kif ukoll kellu opportunitajiet ġodda u sbieħ "f’art ċivilizzata u kristjana".

Illum il-ġurnata, kliem bħal dan jinstema’ stramb, jekk mhux ukoll ostili, iżda l-ideat tas-superjorità razzjali kienu għadhom qawwijin fid-dinja tal-Punent sa tard is-Seklu Għoxrin, u li waslu għat-Tieni Gwerra Dinjija li wkoll swiet il-ħajja ta’ miljuni ta’ nies.

Il-kwistjoni tal-omosesswalità wkoll tqanqal opinjonijiet divergenti. Waqt li hemm min jgħid li n-negozjar f’dan il-konflitt huwa possibli, oħrajn isostnu li l-omosesswalità, bħall-iskjavitù, hija kwistjoni morali u qatt ma tista’ twassal għal kompromess. U għal darba oħra, id-dibattitu li għaddej qiegħed iqanqal kuxjenza ġdida kontra definizzjoni li qiegħda tmut bil-mod il-mod.

Id-definizzjoni antika tiddikjara l-omosesswalità bħala għażla li jagħmlu persuni ħżiena, perverti u li huma inqas minn umani. Għalhekk din ma tistax tkun tollerata. Persuni li d-depravità tagħhom iġġiegħlhom jagħżlu "dan l-istil ta’ ħajja" għandhom ikunu kkonvertiti jew jitwarrbu li ma jmorrux ixellfu l-ordni soċjali; jekk huma omosesswali minħabba mard mentali, għandhom ikunu kkurati li ma jmorrux jinfettaw saħħet iċ-ċittadini l-oħrajn.

Din hija d-definizzjoni ddikjarata, anke b’ċerta onestà, minn ħafna minn dawk li jsejħu lilhom infushom bħala Nsara konservattivi u tradizzjonali. Fl-istess waqt huma ħafna minn dawn li jinsabu mbeżża’ għax studji u stħarriġ li qegħdin isiru qegħdin juru li din l-opinjoni tilfet ħafna mill-appoġġ li kellha. Maqbudin f’definizzjoni li qiegħda tmut, dawn l-Insara jassumu li l-kritiċi li ma jaqblux magħhom huma fuq in-naħa ta’ l-immoralità u ta’ l-anarkija morali.

Min-naħa l-oħra, il-kuxjenza l-ġdida li qiegħda dejjem aktar tissaħħaħ, tiċħad kull parti ta’ din id-definizzjoni. Din tgħid li persuni gay la huma mħassrin moralment u lanqas morda mentalment, billi l-orjentament sesswali ta’ dak li jkun mhix għażla, iżda xi ħaġa integrali li wieħed jinduna biha. Hija bħal meta wieħed jirrealizza li huwa maskili jew femminili, li jagħmel parti minn razza partikolari jew nazzjon, jew jekk hux xellugi jew lemini. Soċjetà morali u ġusta ma tinbenix fuq xi premessa li xi wħud mill-bnedmin huma inqas minn umani jew li huma perverti, u lanqas fuq il-bażi ta’ dak li jagħżlu jew fuq il-bażi ta’ x’inhuma. M’għandu x’jaqsam xejn dak li kien ġie ddikjarat qabel minn xi sors ta’ għerf antik.

Bħala eżempju, bosta drabi l-Bibbja kienet tkun ikkwotata minn xi wħud b’appoġġ għall-iskjavitù, biex jopponu x-xjenza jew biex in-nisa jinżammu milli jiksbu l-ugwaljanza. Fuq kull waħda minn dawn il-kwistjonijiet, il-Bibbja ma kienetx korretta. Li tikkwotaha llum biex tiġġustifika l-ħażen ta’ l-omofobija mhux inqas ħażin. Dawn l-isforzi għad ifallu, kif dejjem għamlu. Fl-aħħar mill-aħħar it-traġedja tkun li ċerti mexxejja tal-Knisja, li bħal donnhom dejjem ikunu fuq in-naħa żbaljata ta’ kwistjonijiet morali kbar fl-istorja, qishom qatt ma jitgħallmu l-lezzjoni tal-istorja: li kull preġudizzju, la darba pubblikament ikkontestat b’kuxjenza ġdida, tkun inqatgħetlu għall-mewt.

Jekk wieħed janalizza d-dibattitu li għaddej isib li l-ġerarkija tal-Knisja Kattolika Rumana għadha tirrifjuta l-għerf xjentifiku uman li jeżisti llum il-ġurnata, u waqt li tiddefendi d-definizzjoni antika billi tirrikorri għal kwotazzjonijiet mill-Bibbja, bħal donnha tilbes il-maskra tal-ħniena u l-mogħdrija. Huma jiddeskrivu u jsostnu li l-omosesswalità bħala li "mhix naturali" jew li hija "devjazzjoni", u jħeġġu li din għandha tiġi oppressa fejn jista’ jkun possibli u kkontrollata fejn mhux possibli.

Donnhom jiskoraġġixxu persuni omosesswali milli jidentifikaw ruħhom u jaċċettaw lilhom infushom bħala persuni gay kif ukoll biex ma jibżgħux jiddikjaraw l-orjentament sesswali tagħhom lill-għeżież tagħhom u dawk l-aktar qrib tagħhom, meta psikolġikament u xjentifikament nafu li n-nuqqas ta’ dan jikkawża ħsara kbira f’dak li jkun. Mhux hekk biss, imma anke fid-dokumenti uffiċjali tal-Vatikan ma jużawx it-terminu "gay" iżda jibqgħu jużaw it-terminu "omosesswali" biex jiffokaw għal kollox fuq l-att sesswali.

L-istudji kollha li saru juru li sa minn meta nħolqot il-kelma "omosesswalità" fis-Seklu Dsatax, l-omosesswalità kienet u għadha preżenti f’persentaġġ stabbli fir-razza umana f’kull żmien u kullimkien. Din l-istatistika tissuġġerixxi li l-omosesswalità ma tistax titqies bħala li mhix naturali iżda li hija aspett minoritarju tal-ordni maħluq li jidher normali fil-forom kollha tal-ħajja.

Il-knejjes evanġeliċi u fundamentalisti jiddikjaraw li dawn id-definizzjonijiet ta’ antikwità jħaddnu l-verità eterna ta’ Alla u kull attentat li jbiddilhom huwa jew xogħol Satana jew xi spirtu lajk li ma jemminx f’Alla, u li qed jisfida l-kelma ta’ Alla f’isem l-immoralità. Kien hemm ukoll min irriafferma dawn id-definizzjonijiet mingħajr ma nduna li kull definizzjoni li trid tkun riaffermata m’għadhiex tgħodd.

Xi knejjes oħra però, fosthom dawk Protestanti, Anglikani u oħrajn, imxew sew fuq din il-kwistjoni. Huma knejjes miftuħin li jilqgħu b’idejhom miftuħin lil persuni lesbjani, gay, bisesswali u transesswali, knejjes li joffru servizzi lill-komunità gay, knejjes li jħarsu lejn persuna gay verament bħala xbiha ta’ Alla, bħala rigal u allura lesti li b’mod konkret jilqgħu dan “ir-rigal”.

Dawn il-knejjes jiffukaw fuq il-ħajja sana tal-persuni LGBT u mhux fuq l-atti sesswali li possibilment jistgħu jagħmlu. Huma knejjes li jaħdmu u joffru servizzi biex persuni LGBT jilħqu l-milja tagħhom bħala ulied Alla, biex ikunu persuni sħaħ u integrati kemm fis-soċjetà u fi ħdan il-Knisja, u jagħtu l-akbar kontribut possibli bis-saħħa tat-talenti li Alla afdalhom u żejjinhom bihom. Dawn huma knejjes li mhux biss jilqgħu persuni LGBT imma anke lill-familja u lill-ħbieb tagħhom, joffru spazju veru fejn komunità tifforma fuq il-vera sisien tal-imħabba u r-rispett reċiproku.

Fil-każ tal-Knisja Kattolika Rumana teżisti inċertezza kbira dwar kemm se jitwal dan id-dibattitu u kemm se jkun hemm nies li jweġġgħu qabel jispiċċa l-preġudizzju. Għax kif fis-Seklu Dsatax ma setax jintlaħaq kompromess dwar l-iskjavitù għax fl-aħħar kien mifhum bħala kwistjoni morali, hekk ukoll fis-Seklu Wieħed u Għoxrin, l-omosesswalità ma tista’ qatt tkun kompromessa għax hi wkoll hija kwistjoni morali.

Ħafna kienu dawk li assumew li l-Knisja, fl-ispirtu ġdid u ħieles li segwa l-Konċilju Vatikan it-Tieni, kienet lesta li teżamina mill-ġdid it-tagħlim tagħha dwar l-omosesswalità. Teologi magħrufin emmnu li l-provi ġodda mill-oqsma tal-istudji tal-iskrittura, tal-istorja, tal-psikoloġija, tas-soċjoloġija u tat-teoloġija morali, kienu biżżejjed biex jikkontestaw serjament kull premessa li fuqha kien ibbażat it-tagħlim tradizzjonali. Antiċipaw ukoll dibattitu pubbliku fuq it-tagħlim tal-Knisja li eventwalment kellu jwassal għal reviżjoni ta’ kif il-Knisja tifhem u tħares lejn l-omosesswalità.

Iżda l-esperjenza ta’ dawn l-aħħar tletin sena wriet mod ieħor bil-Knisja tkun iebsa daqs qatt qabel, waqt li pproklamat li t-tagħlim tagħha kien ibbażat fuq "rivelazzjoni divina", u għalhekk mhux miftuħa għall-bidla, minkejja kull prova ġdida li tappoġġja tali bidla. Infatti, hemm min isostni li l-ebda tagħlim morali fuq is-sesswalità m’hu infallibilment definit. Jgħidu ukoll li pass kbir lura sar meta kien iddikjarat li l-orjentazzjoni omosesswali ma kienetx kundizzjoni naturali iżda tirrappreżenta "diżordni oġġettiva" u kienet "orjentazzjoni għall-ħażen", bħal dak li qallu, Alla huwa tant krudil li lest joħloq lil xi wħud intrinsikament orjentati għall-ħażen! Din ma tinstemax bħala ereżija, speċjalment fid-dawl tat-tagħlim stess ta’ ommna l-Knisja?

Imġieba u dikjazzjonijiet bħal dawn ħafna drabi kapaċi joħolqu ħsara kbira f’moħħ ħafna żgħażagħ gay Kattoliċi li jaraw kontradizzjoni kbira bejn il-messaġġ li dawn iridu jwasslu u l-messaġġ ta’ Kristu li qatt ma lissen kelma waħda negattiva dwar l-omosesswalità. Mhux kulħadd kapaċi jeżerċità l-ħelsien leġittimu tal-kuxjenza u jagħmel dixxeniment ta’ dak li Alla qed jgħidilhom direttament permezz ta’ l-esperjenzi tagħhom. Kien ukoll iddikjarat li l-oppressjoni tas-sesswalità, sew bir-reliġjon, sew mill-istat kif ukoll minn terapisti li jinsistu li kapaċi jbiddlu persuni omosesswali f’eterosesswali mhux biss tnaqqas bis-sħiħ l-istima personali ta’ persuni gay u lesbjani iżda kapaċi wkoll twassalhom biex jibdew jobgħodu lilhom infushom tant li jaslu biex iwettqu ħsara lilhom stess u ġieli disgrazzjament jaslu għas-suwiċidju.

Il-Vatikan ma jqisx il-ħsara li jikkawżaw kliem tat-tagħlim uffiċjali tiegħu dwar l-omosesswalità mhux biss fuq il-persuna gay innifsiha imma wkoll fuq il-familji tagħhom … dawn il-kliem huma piż kbir li ftit reliġjużi huma lesti li jċaqalqu subgħajhom iż-żgħir biex jgħinu lil dawn il-familji jġorru dan il-piż.

Ftit li xejn naqraw dwar it-tbatijiet kbar li ħafna jsofru internament, li ġieli wkoll iwasslu għal traġedji. Waħda minn dawn li baqgħet tissemma kienet dik tal-poeta u intellettwali Alfredo Ormando li għaxar snin ilu, b’sinjal ta’ protesta kontra n-nuqqas ta’ sensittività min-naħa tal-ġerarkija Vatikana kien neħħa ħajtu eżattament f’Pjazza San Pietru, f’Ruma, billi tefa’ l-petrol fuqu u bħal ma kien għamel Jan Palach fi Praga, ta n-nar lilu nnifsu.

Kienu ftit qabel it-tmienja ta’ filgħodu tat-13 ta’ Jannar 1998, meta Alfredo Ormando – Sqalli ta’ 39 sena – wasal fil-pjazza ikonika ta’ Bernini, iġorr landa petrol li kien xtara ftit qabel u li kien qed iżomm f’borża tal-plastik sewda. Il-pjazza kienet kważi deżerta u hekk kif wasal ħdejn il-presepju li soltu jintrama’ hemm, niżel għarkubtejh bħal donnu se jitlob, ferrex il-petrol fuqu u ta n-nar lilu nnifsu. Imbagħad huwa qam u beda miexi lejn il-Bażilika "bħal ħuġġieġa ġganteska" sakemm twaqqaf f’tarf it-taraġ minn żewġ uffiċjali tal-pulizija li tefgħuh fl-art u tfewlu l-fjammi li kienu ħakmuh. Huwa miet wara ħdax-il ġurnata ta’ agunija kawża tal-ġrieħi gravi li ġarrab.

Alfredo Ormando kien gay. Kien twieled fir-raħal ta’ San Cataldo f’Cattanissetta. Il-ġenituri tiegħu kienu bdiewa llitterati b’tmint’itfal x’imantnu f’kundizzjonijiet ekonomiċi modesti. Waqt li kien qed imut, l-ittri tiegħu li ried jippubblika ġew ikkonfiskati. Iżda bħal donnu kien jaf x’ġej u għalhekk, qabel rikeb il-ferovija minn Palermo għal Ruma, bagħat il-kitbiet tiegħu lill-aġenzija ta’ l-aħbarijiet ANSA. Dawn il-kitbiet tiegħu fihom ħafna x’tomgħod, fosthom kif ħassu miċħud mill-Knisja u l-uġiegħ li dan ikkawżalu.

Il-mewt tiegħu ġiet irrapportata minn xi wħud bħala suwiċidju ta’ xi ħadd li kien mentalment żbilanċjat. Iżda l-ittri tiegħu jiżvelaw li ma kienx żbilanċjat iżda ddisprat. Fost oħrajn huwa kiteb hekk: "Għaddejt parti sew mill-erbgħin sena tiegħi nittama li l-kliem ippubblikat tiegħi jixirfu ‘l hemm mill-konfini tal-gżira tiegħi, Sqallija. Dan ma kienx possibli; ma ngħoddhomx ir-rifjuti li rċevejt minn djar tal-pubblikazzjonijiet kemm kbar kif ukoll żgħar. Iddeċidejt li nittrasforma f’għajta li ttarrax u sinjal li ma jitħassarx il-ġisem ta’ raġel li kelli u li ħabb raġel ieħor, u li ngħajjat b’saħħti kollha li l-Knisja ma tridx tara, ma tridx tisma’.

"Ġismi jkun il-pinna li tikteb kliemi li ħadd ma jista’ jħassar, il-linka jkun il-petrol. Nittama li huma jifhmu l-messaġġ li rrid inħalli: huwa forma ta’ protesta kontra l-Knisja li tiddemonizza l-omosesswalità u fl-istess waqt in-natura kollha, għax l-omosesswalità hija bint in-Natura Omm".

Għal ħafna gays Kattoliċi, Alfredo Ormando sar simbolu ta’ dak li huma jaraw bħala l-intolleranza tas-soċjetà u l-Knisja Kattolika Rumana lejhom. Din it-traġedja, li kull sena tkun imfakkra minn għaqdiet ta’ persuni gay u lesbjani fl-istess post tal-mewt tiegħu, wasslet ukoll biex il-jum tat-13 ta’ Jannar ta’ kull sena jibqa’ mfakkar bħala l-Jum Mondjali għad-Djalogu bejn ir-Reliġjonijiet u l-Omosesswali. It-traġedja ta’ Alfredo Ormando se tkun ukoll it-tema ta’ dokumentarju ta’ siegħa – bl-isem ta’ "Alfredo’s Fire" – li se jkun jitratta r-relazzjoni li teżisti bejn id-diskriminazzjoni kontra persuni gay u l-intolleranza reliġjuża u ironikament, l-importanza tal-esperjenza spiritwali.

Iżda fuq kollox, din it-traġedja u oħrajn li dwarhom ma naqraw imkien, juru l-ħtieġa li persuni gay u lesbjani, li forsi jafu x’jgħid it-tagħlim tal-Knisja dwar l-omosesswalità u l-immoralità oġġettiva ta’ atti omoġenitali, għandhom ukoll ikunu konxji ta’ tagħlim ieħor dwar l-omosesswalità: dak dwar id-dinjità umana u lejn il-persuna sħiħa, dwar il-ġustizzja soċjali u d-drittijiet ċivili, dwar l-immoralità tad-diskriminazzjoni nġusta u l-vjolenza bla sens lejn persuni gay, kif ukoll il-mandat għal kura pastorali awtentika.

Turi wkoll il-ħtieġa li jisħqu tant fuqha gruppi Kattoliċi ta’ persuni gay, lesbjani, bisesswali u transesswali, bħall-grupp LGBT Kattoliku Malti – Drachma – li l-Knisja għandha jkollha l-amor proprju li tisma’ lil persuni gay u lesbjani dwar l-esperjenzi tagħhom u tiddjaloga magħhom dwar il-weġgħat, ix-xewqat u l-aspirazzjonijiet tagħhom, kif ukoll li tkun preżenti għalihom pastoralment fl-isforzi tagħhom biex jintegraw is-sesswalità u t-twemmin reliġjuż tagħhom. B’dan il-mod, il-komunità tal-Knisja ikollha storja aktar kompleta tar-realtà komplessa ta’ l-omosesswalità u kif din teffettwa l-ħajja tan-nies tal-Knisja tagħha u b’hekk tkun f’qagħda li tassew tista’ twieġeb b’mod realistiku, sensittiv u kompassjoni awtentika. U wieħed jittama li dan ma jkunx parti tal-mistħija minn tal-Knisja Kattolika …. Mistħija li llum għandna minħabba dawk rikonoxxuti bħala żbalji ħoxnin tal-passat.

B’dan il-mod jinbnew il-pontijiet tant meħtieġa, fejn issir enfasi speċjali fuq il-promozzjoni tar-rikonċiljazzjoni għall-persuni gay u lesbjani Kattoliċi, il-familji u l-ħbieb tagħhom li ħafna drabi jħossuhom ittraskurati u esklużi mill-Knisja minkejja l-isforzi kollha li jagħmlu biex ikunu parti integrali minnha. B’dan il-mod ikun aktar faċli il-fejqan spiritwali u psikoloġiku ta’ dawk li jħossuhom iżolati u mċaħħdin kemm mis-soċjetà kif ukoll mill-Knisja li tant iħobbu.

Dawn l-esperjenzi ta’ uġiegħ u qtigħ il-qalb li ġieli wkoll ikunu mbuttati minn ċerta rabja, ħafna drabi huma riżultat ta’ perċezzjonijiet ta’ ostilità jew nuqqas ta’ attenzjoni pastorali minn ċerti oqsma fi ħdan il-Knisja. Permezz ta’ rispett reċiproku u parteċipazzjoni attiva fi ħdan il-Knisja, wieħed jista’ jaħdem għar-rikonċilazzjoni, li jfisser li rridu ninterpretaw it-tamiet u l-beżgħat ta’ kull naħa lill-oħra.

J’alla li dan iseħħ illum qabel għada.

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Website relatata: Alfredo's Fire: http://www.openeyepictures.com/alfredosfire/index.html
Ara t-trailer hawn: http://www.openeyepictures.com/alfredosfire/af_film.html

Hawnhekk tista' taqra ittra li Alfredo Ormando kiteb lil ħabib tiegħu ftit granet qabel ma kkommetta suwiċidju:

http://www.liguria.cgil.it/NuoviDiritti/News/palermo.htm

Palermo, Natale 1997

Caro Adriano, quest’anno non sento più il Natale, mi è indifferente come tutte le cose; non c’è nulla che riesca a richiamarmi alla vita.

I miei preparativi per il suicidio procedono inesorabilmente; sento che questo è il mio destino, l’ho sempre saputo e mai accettato, ma questo destino tragico è là ad aspettarmi con una certosina pazienza che ha dell’incredibile.

Non sono riuscito a sottrarmi a quest’idea di morte, sento che non posso evitarlo, tantomeno far finta di vivere e progettare un futuro che non avrò; il mio futuro non sarà altro che la prosecuzione del presente.

Vivo con la consapevolezza di chi sta per lasciare la vita terrena e ciò non mi fa orrore, anzi!, non vedo l’ora di porre fine ai miei giorni; penseranno che sia un pazzo perché ho deciso Piazza San Pietro per darmi fuoco, mentre potevo farlo anche a Palermo.

Spero che capiranno il messaggio che voglio dare; è una forma di protesta contro la Chiesa che demonizza l’omosessualità, demonizzando nel contempo la natura, perché l’omosessualità è sua figlia.

Alfredo

Questa lettera, che non abbisogna d’alcun commento, fu scritta da Alfredo Ormando, che la mattina del 13 gennaio 1998 si diede fuoco in Piazza San Pietro e morì poi dopo dieci giorni d’atroci sofferenze.

Alcuni amici si sono riuniti insieme ed hanno deciso che il 13 gennaio di ciascun anno tale sacrificio sia ricordato e serva da sprone per tutte le persone democratiche ed amanti della convivenza civile perché i diritti, di cui godono tutti i cittadini, siano riconosciuti alle persone omosessuali e transessuali in quanto tali.

Per questo lo ricordiamo anche noi come Ufficio Nuovi Diritti di Genova.

Enzo Peretta

Ittri lill-Editur tal-Kullħadd: Il-Gays u l-Liġi tal-Kera

Din l-ittra se tidher fil Kullħadd tat-28 ta' Settembru

Ghaziz Editur,

B'referenza għall-artiklu "RIFORMA Kerha ghall-GAYS" li deher fis-7 ta' Settembru, L-Alternattiva Demokratika (AD) taqbel li koppji li ma jaqawx taht id-definizzjoni tal-familja tradizzjonali bhal dawk li kienu sseparati jew dawk ta' l-istess sess m'ghandhomx jigu minsija
fir-riforma tal-ligi tal-kera.

Il-Perit Carmel Cacopardo li hu l-Kelliem ghal zvillup sostenibbli qal dan fl-artiklu Cleaning Up the Mess li deher fil-gazzetta The Times tat-8 ta' Lulju.

Dawn is-suggerimenti gew ukoll diskussa ma' laqgha li membri ta' l-Ezekuttiv ta' l-AD kellhom mal-Ministru tas-Social Policy L-Onorevoli John Dalli fil-1 ta' Awissu 2008 u fir-rapport
bir-reazzjonijiet ta' l-AD dwar il-Whitepaper li nghata lill-istess Ministru.

Dejjem Tieghek

Dr. Inġ. Patrick Attard
Kelliem ta' l-AD dwar Gays Liżbjani Bisesswali u Transesswali

Times: No to 'keeping up appearances' politics

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080920/letters/no-to-keeping-up-appearances-politics
Saturday, 20th September 2008; Letter to the Editor by Albert Gauci Cunningham, Buġibba

I was utterly disgusted while reading Adrian Vassallo's last "contribution" to The Times where he took David Casa to task due to the fact that the latter has written two very good articles egging the government on to legalise "cohabitation".

The title (Standing Up To The Herd Instinct - [pasted below]) is not only offensive but downright disgraceful. What does he mean by "herd"? Does he mean those women who endured years of pain in a broken and violent marriage? Does he mean those children who have to endure the pain of living in a family where love and respect is inexistent?

Who are the herds? Those who have to remain under marriage vows just because they don't have enough money to go abroad and get a divorce like their wealthier neighbour? A divorce which is then so hypocritically accepted by the Maltese state!

Why doesn't Dr Vassallo tell me, a gay person, what to do instead of looking at me like a stupid sheep who follows the herd? Am I supposed to stay single all my life? Am I supposed to endure a situation where I cannot see my partner even in near death situations because I am not considered "family"? Should I have to say "signor si" to a legal system that denies me the right of inheriting anything from a long-time relationship in case of no will? Is this fair?

In his letter, which, may I say (tongue in cheek), is anything but "progressive" and "moderate", Dr Vassallo says that cohabitation is a "malady". What about infidelity? What about having a husband (or a wife) who has sexual encounters with other males (or females) in his/her "free" time? What about prostitution? What about child neglect? What about getting drunk in the village każin at the festa and making a fool out of yourself and your family?

Dr Vassallo has the gall to call the children born out of wedlock as "evil by-products". How are children like these different? What problems does he come across? The single mothers and cohabitating people I know love their children as much as everyone else, so why these undignified "adjectives"?

The truth is that cohabitation is the by-product fuelled by illogical conservatism by our government's pandering to the conservative vote and the MLP's "sitting pretty" policy. This cocktail of inaction has closed all possibilities of people whose marriage is in a state of no return to remarry and so leaves them in this legal limbo without any duties, rights or social recognition. It has also left gay people like me with no other choice but to cohabit in this "legal jungle" called Malta!

It is very ironic that at a time when the MLP is rightly doing its utmost to be seen as progressive and a real Socialist Party, out comes one of its shadow ministers with calls of fire and brimstone and "abyss of destruction", as he calls cohabitation!

The world has moved and we have moved with it. We have learnt to accept different lifestyles and regulate them. The time of "keeping up appearances" politics is over. We need to shake ourselves from the very foundations, remove the lethargy and act. Dr Vassallo is no "guardian of our values". He is just the "guardian of the status quo" which is diametrically opposed to his leader's and the majority of this country's wishes!

---
Times: Standing up to the herd instinct
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080906/letters/standing-up-to-the-herd-instinct
Saturday, 6th September 2008; by Adrian Vassallo (MP Labour), Ta' Xbiex

David Casa, the Nationalist member of the European Parliament, has highlighted the fact that marriage is on the decline in Malta, compared to some decades ago, and that "more people are cohabiting" (Let's Legislate Now!, September 4).

He does not recognise this as a social malaise. Instead of finding a cure for this social malady, he proposes to institutionalise it by law.

He has invoked the Nationalist Party promise, made during the last electoral campaign, to enact cohabitation legislation.

To seal his argument, he quoted from St Paul's letter to the Corinthians.

This is not the first time scripture has been cited to suit a particular viewpoint!

Mr Casa holds that "we are in duty bound to protect those couples that are de facto cohabiting." From a purely civil point of view, all these couples could take care of themselves if they opt for civil marriage - in which case they would be cohabiting de jure.

In his words, Mr Casa concedes that "it is an established fact that cohabiting relationships are more fragile, in the sense that they are more prone to break-ups than marriage".

The sane approach to this is to discourage cohabitation, and to shore up the institution of marriage and the traditional family - and this for social, legal and moral reasons.

Cohabitation has made fast inroads. It is a social malaise that undermines our traditional cultural and family values.

Among its evil by-products are the difficulties faced by children born out of cohabiting relations. These are real difficulties, for which legal solutions must be found.

The answer is to sanitise the Maltese social milieu and not to emulate the Gadarene swine by senselessly leaping with the herd in an abyss of destruction.

Independent UK: Gay judge shatters 'pink glass ceiling'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gay-judge-shatters-pink-glass-ceiling-936156.html
Saturday, 20 September 2008; By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor

It is often said that the "pink glass ceiling" which holds back the promotion of gay and lesbian people in British society is double glazed when it comes to professional mobility among the higher echelons of the judiciary.

So the achievement of a 58-year-old barrister and former Olympic fencer in winning a place on the Bench of the Court of Appeal is all the more remarkable.

Sir Terence Etherton, pictured, will be the first openly gay judge to be sworn in as Lord Justice of Appeal when his appointment is confirmed later this month.

Sir Terry's promotion to the 36 judges of the second-highest court in England and Wales, on the formal recommendation of the Prime Minister, was welcomed yesterday by gay rights campaigners. It also means that Sir Terry is a leading contender to become the first openly gay law lord. Friends described him as the "epitome of a modern judge" who ensured that both sides always got a fair hearing in his courtroom.

His appointment is also recognition for the work he has done over the past two years as chairman of the Law Commission, the Government'slegal reform body. In that time the commission has been responsible for showing "enlightened thinking" on some very sensitive and important areas of the law.

Sir Terry said: "It is a great honour to be appointed to the Court of Appeal. My appointment reflects the high standing of the Law Commission and the quality and importance of the reports we produce. My appointment also shows that diversity in sexualityis not a bar to preferment up to the highest levels of the judiciary."

The judge, a Cambridge graduate, was a member of the England sabre team which won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships in 1978 before qualifying for the Moscow Olympics in 1980.

In 2001 he was appointed to the High Court, becoming one of only two openly gay judges to hold such office – the other is Sir Adrian Fulford, appointed in 2002. Two years ago, Sir Terry was the first High Court judge publicly to announce his own civil partnership.

Welcoming Sir Terry's promotion, Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay rights group Stonewall, said: "This is not before time. We have been in contact with the Judicial Appointments Commission for the past 18 months about our concerns about the invisibility of people from minority groups on the Bench."

Recent Stonewall research found that 25 per cent of all gay and lesbian people interviewed felt they would be treated worse by a judge than if they were heterosexual and charged with a major offence. In the family courts the perception of bias is even more serious. Two in five (41 per cent) expect to be treated worse than a heterosexual if they were to appear before a family court in a divorce or custody case. "People say it doesn't matter whether the judge is a straight white guy or not because the system is basically fair," said Mr Summerskill. "But what people forget is that the common law has been developed over the years by a group of people with a particular outlook, namely white, heterosexual men from public schools. So the idea of what the reasonable man or reasonable point of view may be in legal terms may be very different from someone who comes from a very different background."

Gay rights landmarks
*The idea of coming out was introduced in 1869 by the German homosexual rights advocate Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, right, as a means of emancipation.

He claimed that invisibility was a major obstacle toward changing public opinion.

*Chris Smith, below left, became the first openly gay MP after being elected for Labour in 1983, and later the first gay cabinet minister when he became Culture Secretary after Labour's 1997 election victory.

*Alan Duncan, centre, is the first openly gay Conservative MP, having come out in 2002. He is the Tories' business spokesman.

*In 2004, The Right Rev Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, below right, became the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained as a bishop in a major Christian denomination.

*On 21 December 2005, Debbie Gaston and Elaine Cook from Brighton entered the gay rights history book when they became the first same-sex couple to be legally married in Britain.

*Two decades after the first gay character moved to Albert Square and 13 years after Anna Friel's lesbian kiss on Brookside Close, The Archers achieved a soap-opera first by featuring a gay civil ceremony in 2006.

*In June 2008, two male priests exchanged vows and rings in a ceremony seen as blasphemous by conservatives. The Rev Peter Cowell and the Rev Dr David Lord, had registered their civil partnership before the ceremony.

GRTU: Equal treatment between persons irrespective of their religion, belief, disability, age and sexual orientation

19.9.8 Press Release received by email. http://grtu.net/
Malta General Retailers and Traders Union (GRTU); Malta Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises Press Release.

On 2 July 2008, the European Commission (EC) adopted a directive proposal which aims to provide for protection from discrimination.

So far, discrimination based on age, religion or belief, sexual orientation and disability is only prohibited in the fields of employment, occupation and vocational training. With its latest directive proposal, the EC intends to fill this gap.

By means of this new directive the EC wants to ensure equal treatment in the areas of social protection, including social security and health care, education and access to and supply of goods and services which are commercially available to the public, including housing. Thus, commerce is directly affected by this directive proposal.

GRTU cannot support the directive proposal in its present form since it would create legal uncertainty and additional burdens for the enterprises in the commerce sector.

Instead of new legislation with an unclear outcome, GRTU advocates a non-legislative approach and is very much in favour of an intensified and structured dialogue between public authorities, business and all other stakeholders concerned, in particular NGOs representing those groups of society which are exposed to discrimination.

GRTU’s full position paper may be found on: http://grtu.net/data/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=651&Itemid=1

Times: The nature of Green politics

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080913/opinion/the-nature-of-green-politics/
Saturday, 13th September 2008; by Carmel Cacopardo

On being elected leader of the Greens in England and Wales last week, MEP Caroline Lucas stated: "There is a huge number of people out there who want to hear our message and we want to get better at getting it across. I want to get our message out about social justice. Everyone knows we are the party of the environment. What fewer people know is that if you are looking for the real progressive force in British politics today, it is the Green party".

During the March 2008 general election, the PN took on board most of AD's environmental policies. The MLP is now taking on board AD's campaign on civil rights: divorce, gay rights, local council voting at age 16. AD's campaign on rent reform has borne fruit. A consensus seems to be developing around AD's electoral proposal on the energy surcharge: having a low or no charge for basic use and a high charge for excessive users.

An impressive contribution by a political party which has not yet made it to Parliament!

It is to early to state whether the PN and/or the MLP are trying to be greener than the greens. The emerging interest of the PN and the MLP in Green politics is positive as, in fact, this is coalition building by the back door!

It is to be borne in mind that Green parties are not restricted to environmental issues although, as stated by Ms Lucas, the environment is that area of politics with which Greens are mostly associated.

The Charter of The Global Greens, approved in Canberra in 2001, in fact identifies six principles forming the basis of Green politics: ecological wisdom, social justice, participatory democracy, non-violence, sustainability and respect for diversity. Viewed together, they form the basis of Green politics. All six are enshrined in the policy positions taken locally by AD.

Humankind is part of the natural world. We must respect all the other species forming part of this world. All forms of life are to be valued as all belong to the same natural world. This signifies that we must learn to live within the ecological and resource limits of planet earth and that we must ensure fulfilling the basic duty to respect biodiversity and life-support systems. Where we have little or no knowledge we must be cautious and tread carefully, thereby ensuring that we do not prejudice present and future generations. Basic to the achievement of social justice is the equitable distribution of resources. Social and environmental justice are thus intertwined.

Green parties the world over are firm believers in subsidiarity. AD will by the time of publication of this article have made public its proposals for a reform of local government. sponsibilities, clearer funding rules, Green tendering procedures at a local level and the needAD will argue for a strengthening of local government in Malta through devolution of additional re to introduce a referendum to decide on development projects having a significant impact on the locality.

The Greens respect diversity. Diversity of opinion. Ethical pluralism. Diversity in gender orientation. This has to be reflected in everyday politics. Hence, the Greens stand up against homophobia and support the right of gays and lesbians to be treated as equal persons of our community to which they too contribute through their daily toil.

The Greens favour divorce in contrast to those who believe in the theocratic powers of the state of imposing the beliefs of a section of the community on the rest. Those who believe in the indissolubility of marriage have a right to freely practise their beliefs. However, they have no right to impose their beliefs on the rest of the country. The state in Malta is still theocratic in this respect. It is about time that the winds of change open up the doors of ethical pluralism. Divorce has been recognised in Malta since 1975 but only for those who have the financial means to proceed to a foreign jurisdiction.

The effects of the March 2008 electoral campaign will take some time to sink into the psyche of the Maltese voter. It is not just about electoral promises which will not be fulfilled. Nor about scandals such as the Mistra one or the reversal of dubious pre-electoral decisions such as that on the development at Transfiguration Avenue in Lija. Voters are realising that the major parties avoided issues in March but subsequently had to face them. The shipyards debacle is a case in point wherein government intransigence had to give way to a civil society insistence on dialogue. Common sense eventually prevailed.

In the months ahead, the Greens in Malta will continue to face the issues and present to the public the progressive options which lie ahead.

An architect and civil engineer, Mr Cacopardo is the spokesman on sustainable development and local government of Alternattiva Demokratika - the Green party in Malta.

AP: Brad Pitt donates money to support gay marriage

http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=9030288
Associated Press - September 18, 2008 12:13 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Actor Brad Pitt is donating $100,000 to fight California's November ballot initiative that would overturn the state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

It's the first time voters will be asked to decide the issue in a state where gays have won the right to wed.

Pitt says "no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it." And he says "discrimination has no place in America."

Pitt's political and philanthropic adviser tells The Associated Press that Pitt is surprised his colleagues in the entertainment industry have not donated more money to support the battle against Proposition 8.

Earlier in the week, Pitt and Angelina Jolie announced they donated $2 million to help fight HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in Ethiopia.

Google Video: Lucy's Male-to-Female-Sex Re-assignment surgery

Very interesting documentary from BBC 3 of male-to female sex re-assigment surgery and the childhood's difficulties Lucy suffered.

The video can be watched here: Lucy.Teen.Transsexual.in.Thailand
[Warning: The video contains graphic images of the operations.]

Keywords: Transexual; Transsexual; Transgender

FM Magazine: Welcome to my Playground. All work and some play makes Steve Grech quite a happy boy. Mr Gay Malta finds Domestic Bliss with M. Farrugia

14.9.8 by Mona Farrugia. FM Magazine is distributed with the Sunday Times [of Malta].
The article appeared on Issue #132. Posted on this blog with the permission of FM Magazine. [fm@madmediainternational.com]

Steve Grech. Mr. Gay Malta 2008

The difference between real happiness, the kind that happens in brief chapters on the way to somewhere else, and looking as happy as a toothpaste advert, are obvious to some, but not all. As far as Steve Grech is concerned, winning the Mr Gay Malta competition, organised by DJ Chunky & Klozet Club, and coming agonisingly close to bagging the Budapest edition of Mr Gay Europe were both a fantastic experience, especially after long hard years of contest participation. It certainly put a massive smile on his handsome face. Yet, he tells me, there’s nothing that makes him happier than love.

Sharing your life with someone special, eating together, watching TV, you know, all the normal, domestic stuff that we take for granted - I couldn’t think of lovelier things to do with my free time. Luckily, I get to do them.”

Steve has been with his partner for the past three months and is so clearly besotted, I’m almost jealous. “I’ve been doing the beauty contest routine for too many years now. I am seriously considering drawing the line. Hearing my name announced is a great boost, but being able to chill out, especially watching my favourite horror movies, is bliss. Oh, and I only watch them once - I like surprises.”

He also likes cooking, whether going for it solo in the kitchen, or sharing a chopping board with the significant other. “I follow a very specific diet but my partner doesn’t, so on Sunday we all let go and have our lovely Sunday roast with all the extras, family and friends. There’s nothing like it.”

Steve is on very friendly terms with the gym’s welcome carpet, and his diet is a carb-laden one designed to fit in with his daily workouts. “I spend two hours a day pumping iron. I am totally addicted. And like any other addiction, I hate it. After ten hours at work, I find the whole

rigmarole incredibly difficult, but I do it because I like the results.” The very apparent results are a pair of biceps bulging out of his C&R outfit and the kind of chest the definition of which I can see through his vest. These must have contributed greatly towards his popularity with the screaming audience at Mr Gay Europe, but I’m sure that his very easy smile that showcases a mouth full of enviably straight pearly-white teeth, helped just as much. Yet this kind of ‘popularity’ is not what Steve seems to be looking for.

“I have two Yorkshire terriers, a male and female, which I’ve had for six years, and they’re my greatest companions. I just let go when I’m with them. I’m like a boy again with the smell of careless childhood in my nostrils. I even play hide and seek with them. They love it, and suffice to say, I love it too.”

You couldn’t say that Steve’s job is the most exciting one in the world (it involves accounts - nuff said) but he “meets people and it pays the mortgage,” which is just the kind of thing he needs. “I had a customer service job for a while, with a much better pay. Yet since I was answering the phone all day and did not have direct contact with people, I just couldn’t stick it. I resigned after a while and went back to my old job.” Amazing how bosses manage not to realise that what makes their people happy is sometimes just the small thing everybody else wants to avoid.

“My dream job is with an airline”, he tells me. In fact, I can so imagine him trolley-dolleying with Emirates that I suggest one of their recruitment drives. “But in order to work with a foreign airline, I’d have to be stationed away. And I have no intention of leaving either my boyfriend or my dogs behind.”

Like most people, Steve loves to travel, but hates travelling for competitions. “You get so lonely and it’s really stressful. Initially, all the competitors are your best friends, but eventually, the bitching inevitably starts. There’s no joy in that. Neither is there any in the filching of my private time nor in the four hours of sleep I get.”

“I’ve changed a lot. I used to be a material kind of person, into clothes and stuff in general, but I’m over that now. Now I look for honest friends and companions, quality time, and enjoying life in the best way I can.”

Times: Have Muscat's 100 days been a dose of hard labour?

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080914/local/have-muscats-100-days-been-a-dose-of-hard-labour
Sunday, 14th September 2008; Herman Grech

Joseph Muscat and his wife Michelle are imbraced by well-wishers just after Mr Muscat was elected. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi.

(Excerpt from the article)

...

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo, who also contested the top party post last June, described Dr Muscat's start as promising.

"The best way to corrupt your leader is to say that he is perfect and is performing miracles. I do not want to corrupt Joseph.

"I want to help him win the hearts and minds of the majority of our people through our actions and policies, and convince them that we will bring about the necessary changes."

Mr Bartolo said Dr Muscat was doing his utmost to reach out and involve as many as people as possible within the party. However, this was easier said than done as it involved a very complicated operation: the party had to try to keep its traditional voters while attracting new ones who distrusted the MLP.

"To bring this about we need to explore and cultivate the common ground and convergence - we can build with Alternattiva Demokratika and connect with the liberals who feel uncomfortable voting for the PN, which is afraid to bring in progressive social reforms like divorce and full rights for gay people."

Changing the Labour Party is an ongoing, complicated and difficult process, but Mr Bartolo believes the new leader has started this process in an imaginative and bold way.

"Dr Muscat should rid himself of any inferiority complex he might have regarding the Nationalist Party and several of its main opinion leaders.

"He must not feel that he needs their endorsement.

"Politics is not a football friendly and the PN is ready to do everything to hold on to power.

...

Times: A particular belief

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080912/opinion/a-particular-belief/
Friday, 12th September 2008; Harry Vassallo

On the face of it, the opening barrage in the Archbishop's Victory Day sermon (see here as well) seemed intended to stop dead in its tracks all forward movement on the divorce issue. It went much further. This was no chiding pastoral letter addressed to the faithful and somehow to be considered a private affair of a particular belief. It was power politics at a moment of symbolically charged Church - state interface. The government was put on notice: The Church is prepared to do battle.

It is also the first public showdown with a PN government at the helm. Everything is different and the tone was a little strident, the sensation of overkill hinting of panic veiled by fulminations. The PN has relinquished its tacit claim to monopoly over everything Catholic, thus releasing the MLP from the need to compete with it. Instead, the Prime Minister's gambit on divorce has led the MLP leader to threaten to move a Bill in Parliament if the PN does not walk the talk. In a matter of weeks, the situation has been reversed and the PN and the MLP are in competition on a trajectory tangential to Church doctrine.

The Church cannot fail to oppose divorce. This very fact weakened its efforts to participate in the civil debate on the basis of long experience and expertise in social matters. Everybody knew that the Church had a different agenda.

With the dramatic reversal of the situation brought about by the need of the other two parties to take over the Green manifesto lock, stock and barrel following the March election, the Church has decided that there is no time left for polite pretence. The issue is not divorce as far as the Church is concerned. It is a matter of putting up a last-ditch defence against modernity, secularism and pluralism. The Church will not succumb without a fight to a reality it views with apprehension.

Perhaps the Bishops are hoping for a miracle but they know what the future holds and, at the very best, they can hope to postpone it a little further. Still, the way this battle is fought, the means adopted, will also colour the Church's future.

A universal Church resorting to nationalism is a contradiction in terms.

Recalling the wars our ancestors fought for the faith is hardly ecumenical in this day and age. Demonising secularists and giving them the guise of invading Ottomans or bombing Fascists and Nazis does not score high in the free and frank exchange of ideas.

Concocting a troika of divorce, abortion and euthanasia is illogical, manipulative and unfair. If intended to convince the unconvinced, it was a miserable failure. Opinions will be variously divided on each of these issues. Divorce is on the cards today, the others are political bogeyman cards.

The vision of a future secular society in which young Catholics will have a harder time making the right choices because they are exposed to the wrong messages and influences was shocking. What we need is not to lock out a "future" which has already happened but to address it with authenticity for all people. Speaking of Catholic morality in contrast with a value-free society as though only Catholics can be decent, honest and true is offensive and contradicted by experience.

The Bishop of Gozo was reported saying that "In a pluralistic society such as ours, there are those who claim that it is arrogant to suggest that moral truth tied to a particular belief ought to lead a civil order that would bind everyone".

What is a pluralistic society for the Bishop of Gozo? One moral truth tied to a particular belief? The same leading a civil order that would bind everyone? It is not arrogance, it is detachment. His Grace is not merely being arrogant, I dread to say it, he is proposing a subversion of the existing civil order. He is not fighting to preserve the status quo but attempting to take us all back centuries, not generations. Our laws cannot be founded on belief but on communicable reason. They are already in clear dissonance with Catholic doctrine in the recognition of divorces obtained abroad and the decriminalisation of adultery and homosexuality.

The divorce issue has ballooned into a Church - state ideological and constitutional conflict. The Prime Minister and his government will have to stand their ground in defence of the state or forfeit their authority. The other political parties will back them up. It is a definition of lines of demarcation such as Alcide De Gasperi had with the Pope in Italy some 60 years ago. In Malta, it cannot be postponed further.

Dr Vassallo is a member of the Committee of the European Green Party.

Times: Italian comic risks trial for attack on Pope

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080911/world-news/italian-comic-risks-trial-for-attack-on-pope
Thursday, 11th September 2008 - 15:33CET

An Italian comic who said Pope Benedict would be punished in hell for the church's treatment of homosexuals could be tried for dishonouring him, a jailable crime under a 1929 treaty with the Vatican, judicial sources said.

Sabina Guzzanti, one of Italy's most pungent political satirists, made the remarks before a cheering crowd of thousands gathered at Rome's Piazza Navona in July.

Her explicit comments were widely published by Italian media and posted on the Internet at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEoxYUooV6o

---

The church, at the time, expressed its "profound displeasure with the offensive words about the Holy Father".

A Rome prosecutor has decided the comments may go beyond satire and break a law protecting the honour and dignity of the leader of 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, under a treaty signed by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, the judicial sources said.

After reviewing the case file, the prosecutor's office asked Justice Minister Angelino Alfano for permission to proceed against Guzzanti with an investigation that could end in a trial. No answer has yet been given.

"We're in the Middle Ages," Paolo Guzzanti, Sabina's father, a conservative senator allied with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, told Italian media.

Leftist politicians said the issue was one of free-speech. Socialist Bobo Craxi warned that punishing satire would bring Italy close to a totalitarian state.

Among the Lateran Treaties that established Vatican City as a sovereign state within Italy, the "Cordatato" treaty provided that offences against the pontiff be punished the same way as offences against Italy's president.

They can be punished with five years in prison.

Guzzanti, famous for her criticisms and impersonations of media mogul Berlusconi, has long complained of media censorship. Her television show "Raiot" was taken off the air in 2003 after a defamation suit from Berlusconi's broadcaster Mediaset.

But Roberto Castelli, a former Berlusconi justice minister and now a cabinet aide, said Guzzanti had committed no crime.

"I don't agree with absolutely anything Sabina Guzzanti says, much less about the Pope, but I defend her right to say all of the enormous idiocies she wants," Castelli said.

L-Orizzont: Par żarbun bit-takkuna

http://www.l-orizzont.com/news.asp?newsitemid=47189
8.9.8; minn DANIELA ATTARD BEZZINA

Illum se nlaqqagħkom ma' Charlotte - raġel ta' 26 sena minn Santa Luċija li minn ġewwa jħoss li hu mara. Għalissa għadu ma bidilx is-sess b'mod kirurġiku iżda jippreferi li nirreferi għalih bħala mara u għalhekk minn issa 'l quddiem se nirrispetta x-xewqa tiegħu.

Charlotte irrakkontatli li kellha tfulija mill-isbaħ bħala waħda minn erba' aħwa. Għal diversi snin kienu hi u oħtha l-kbira biss u kienu jilagħbu flimkien il-ħin kollu. Għalkemm Charlotte kellha ġugarelli li tradizzjonalment huma "tas-subien", kienet aktar miġbuda lejn il-pupi ta' oħtha u lejn il-ħwejjeġ u ż-żraben ta' ommha. "Sakemm kelli xi tmienja jew disa' snin ma kontx nagħti kas imma mbagħad indunajt li dawn l-affarijiet kienu qed jogħġbuni aktar milli suppost u li minn ġewwa kont inħoss li jien tifla u mhux tifel," qaltli Charlotte.

Kompliet tgħidli li fl-iskola primarja ħadd qatt ma qalilha xejn dwar il-fatt li hi kienet dejjem tilgħab mal-bniet, iżda l-iskola sekondarja kienet storja oħra. "Fl-iskola sekondarja kont inħossni tfajla fi skola tas-subien. Għalkemm qatt m'għidt xejn lil ħadd, l-istudenti l-oħra ndunaw li jien kont differenti. Kull filgħodu kont inqum imwerwra mill-prospett ta' ġurnata skola oħra. Kienu jiġu ġranet meta ma kien jagħti kasi ħadd u jħalluni bi kwieti imma ġranet oħra kienu jpattu għal dawn għax matulhom kienu jaqbdu miegħi kontinwament. Ġieli kellimt lil xi għalliema biex forsi jaqbżu għalija u t-tgħajjir jieqaf, imma kien kollu għalxejn. Fil-Form 3 ħassejt li ma kontx niflaħ għal aktar bullying u kelli nbiddel l-iskola. Billi lil tad-dar qatt ma kont niftaħ qalbi magħhom dwar dak li kont ngħaddi minnu l-iskola, ġibtilhom l-iskuża li fl-iskola l-ġdida stajt nitgħallem suġġetti li fl-iskola l-oħra ma kinux mgħallma. Fl-iskola l-ġdida ġieli sibt min jaqbad miegħi u jipprova jwaqqagħni għaċ-ċajt imma kollox ma' kollox kont ħafna aħjar minn qabel."
Charlotte ma kellhiex ħbieb u tmiem il-ġimgħa kienet tqattgħu dejjem id-dar. "Naħseb li tal-familja ġieli ssuspettaw li kien hemm xi ħaġa mhux f'lokha imma qatt ma staqsewni xejn. Aktar ma jistaqsunix, aktar kont nibża' ngħidilhom il-verità. Biex tagħqad, ommi mhux l-ewwel darba li kienet tistaqsini meta se neħdilha xi tfajla d-dar."

Meta spiċċat l-iskola Charlotte bdiet taħdem. Ta' 19-il sena kellha l-ewwel relazzjoni ma' raġel - relazzjoni li permezz tagħha kompliet tikkonferma li hi mhix miġbuda lejn l-irġiel bħala raġel omosesswali iżda bħala mara. Hi stess beżgħet taċċetta dan il-fatt. Kienet tittama li maż-żmien tidra tgħix bħala raġel omosesswali u mhux bħala raġel li jixtieq isir mara, għax kienet tibża' li tal-familja kienu jweġġgħu aktar jekk isiru jafu li hi persuna transesswali milli persuna omosesswali. Iżda ż-żmien għadda u Charlotte baqgħet tħoss li hi mara maqfula f'ġisem ta' raġel.
Għal kważi sentejn, sal-bidu ta' din is-sena, Charlotte ma kellhiex impjieg. Dan kien perjodu ikrah li matulu Charlotte ħassitha frustrata ħafna, aktar u aktar wara li ndunat li xi ħbieb li kellha ma kinux ħbieb ta' veru. Sa fl-aħħar, f'Jannar li għadda, sabet impjieg ġdid li fih tinsab għal qalbha ħafna. Mal-bidu ta' sena ġdida u mpjieg ġdid, Charlotte iddeċidiet li tibda kapitlu ġdid fil-ħajja privata tagħha.

"Bdejt nara li n-nies tampari kollha qabdu triqthom u jafu eżatt x'iridu mill-ħajja. Min qabad karriera eċċitanti u min beda familja, filwaqt li jien kont għadni ma għamilt xejn b'ħajti. Kont għadni ngħix gidba, magħluq fija nnifsi bħala raġel. Iddeċidejt li noħroġ dak li jien verament," qaltli Charlotte.

L-ewwel ħaġa li għamlet kienet li marret tixtri l-ħwejjeġ tan-nisa. Wara baqgħet sejra għand ħabiba tagħha fejn libset ta' mara għall-ewwel darba. "Liebsa bħala Charlotte, ħassejtni komda u kunfidenti għall-ewwel darba f'ħajti. Ħarist fil-mera u ħabbejt lili nnifsi aktar minn qatt qabel."
Il-pass li jmiss kien li Charlotte tgħid il-verità lill-ġenituri tagħha. Ir-reazzjoni tagħhom urietha li ma kellhiex għalfejn tistenna dawk is-snin kollha biex tiftaħ qalbha magħhom. "L-ewwel sibt lil missieri waħdi u għidtlu. Aċċettani kif jien bla tlaqliq. Qalli biss biex nieħu ħsieb tiegħi nnifsi u ngħix ħajti kif nixtieq. Imbagħad kien imiss li ngħid lil ommi. Ħadtha f'kamarti, fejn kelli xi ritratti tiegħi liebsa ta' mara ssejvjati fil-kompjuter, u wrejthomlha. Għall-ewwel ħasbitni oħti ż-żgħira, imbagħad indunat li kont jien. Qaltli li hi kienet tħoss li jiena differenti minn ġuvintur oħra u wegħditni l-appoġġ kollu tagħha."

Wara li fetħet qalbha mal-ġenituri tagħha, Charlotte ħasset li kienet neħħiet għoqla minn fuq l-istonku. S'issa għadha ma rabbietx kuraġġ biżżejjed biex toħroġ mid-dar tagħhom liebsa ta' mara iżda għandha moħħha mistrieħ li ommha u missierha jafu min hi verament.

L-akbar xewqa ta' Charlotte issa hi li tagħmel l-interventi kirurġiċi meħtieġa biex tibdel is-sess tagħha għal dak femminili.

Għalissa din hi xewqa li ma tistax titwettaq billi tinvolvi ħafna flus iżda t-tama ta' Charlotte hi li xi darba tkun faddlet flus biżżejjed biex il-ħolma tagħha sseħħ.

Staqsejtha jekk tixtieqx li xi darba tiżżewweġ u x'possibiltajiet tara fid-dawl tal-fatt li dan l-aħħar f'Malta raġel li bidel is-sess u sar mara ma tħalliex jiżżewweġ. "Iva nixtieq niżżewweġ, għalkemm meta nisma' b'xi każ bħal dak inħossni naqta' qalbi. Hi ħaġa kiefra li wara dawk is-snin kollha jirnexxilek tibdel is-sess tiegħek kif dejjem xtaqt, biex imbagħad is-soċjetà ċċaħħdek milli tiżżewweġ. Tinduna li ħsibt li ħrabt minn xi ħaġa imma fil-fatt għadha tiġri warajk. F'dal-pajjiż nara li hawn ħtieġa kbira ta' aktar tagħlim, l-aktar lit-tfajliet u l-ġuvintur fi żmien l-adoloxxenza, meta jibdew isiru jafu aktar lilhom infushom."

Charlotte sostniet li hu inutli li tipprova tibdel lil persuna li minn ġewwa tħoss li hi tas-sess oppost. "Naf li hu diffiċli għal persuna straight biex tifhem kif iħossu bniedem li ġo fih hemm maqfula persuna oħra. Jgħidulek li int marid jew li qed tiffissa, imma dan mhux il-każ. Persuna transesswali ma tistax tibdel il-mod kif tħossha. Naf li ħafna nies isibuha diffiċli biex iniżżluha din, imma nitlobhom iħalluna ngħixu ħajjitna trankwilli."

"Jien li nista' ngħid hu li filwaqt li bħala raġel ma nogħġobx lili nnifsi, bħala Charlotte naċċetta lili nnifsi mija fil-mija. Bħala Charlotte nieħu gost aktar bil-ħajja u wiċċi jkun dejjem għad-dawl. Meta jkolli saqajja b'żarbun bit-takkuna nkun tassew jien," temmet tgħidli Charlotte filwaqt li rringrazzjat lill-familja tagħha għall-appoġġ li tagħtiha u lil dawk kollha li jixtiqulha l-ġid.

Youtube: REPORTER - Gaby Calleja - 4 June 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZMduVNdC1c 9 June 2008
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Times Blogs » Fr Joe Borg: If God said so …

http://www.timesofmalta.com/blogs/view/20080907/fr-joe-borg/if-god-said-so
Sunday, 7th September 2008

I once interviewed a young man who was active within his community both at a civic level, as well on a religious one. Indeed, he was an elected member of a local council and a leading member of the Muslim community in Malta. As he was active in politics it was not far-fetched to assume he could one day be in parliament. With that in mind I asked him if he would ever consider proposing a bill to make Sharia the law of the land.

“Yes I would”, he quickly answered and hastened to add words whose meaning could best be paraphrased in the following way: If God decreed that the sharia law is good, who can say speak to the contrary? It seems that many people forget one fundamental issue: that the sharia law is not a reality invented or created by man. The sharia law is something that is given to us, something which is implanted in every human being. So changing its properties does not bring freedom. Only truth brings freedom. And truth, the sharia truth, does not change.

If “God said so” what could I say? I respected him and said nothing.

In my heart, though, I said: But my God and the Hindu God and the Buddhist God and the Jewish God fortunately hold a different opinion. Are they all mistaken? And if this truth about managing justice is implanted in every human being than how is it possible that all these Gods and all the billions who adore them have not recognised it? Someone must have hidden this implant quite well.”

There is another reason why I do not like the “God said so” argument. God must have said so – whatever the “so” is and if ever God said it - for a reason. Wouldn’t it be more respectful to God and to fellow humans if we try and persuade humans of a particular position by putting forward the reasons that God had rather than simply saying “God said so”?

Massacres because “God said so”

In the wrong kind of hands this argument - “God said so. Period” - can lead to fundamentalist positions. The followers of many religions, also many Christians of all kinds of persuasion and denomination – even the Catholic one – have committed the most horrible obscenities and glaring mistakes in the name of God.

Hindus massacred Muslims in India. They are now killing Christians. Muslims launched jihads and suicide squads because “God said so”. The more one kills the more God will be happy, they falsely think.

What have we Christians of different denominations not done because “God said so”?

In the name of a loving and all merciful God, Christians massacred indigenous people, waged Crusades, holy wars, burnt people at the stake, condemned democracy and freedom of religion, tried to silence scientists, persecuted homosexuals, blessed the subjugation of women to men. Weren’t Mussolini’s fascist armies blessed by churchmen in the name of God before they embarked on the massacre of the people of Abyssinia? Christians even massacred Christians in the name of God. In God’s name they showed utter disrespect for the proper distinction between Church and state which is a very important and innovative tenet of Christianity. Even to-day the way some Catholics speak and write betrays the belief that the state should behave as if it was a theocracy. Malta is no exception to such ways of thinking.

The list of the obscenities because “God said so” – the ultimate blasphemy - goes on; but will we let it keep going on?

The clash of the Titans

Fr Zalba was an eminent moral theologian in the pre-Vatican II era. Fr Bernard Haring was one of the most famous moral theologians in the post-Vatican II period.

My theological studies at the University were marked by the books of Bernard Haring. Our moral theology professor, Mgr Prof Carmelo Muscat introduced us to the teaching of this great man.

Haring visited Malta on more than one occasion. I remember him recounting the following anecdote about his and Zalba’s participation in Paul VI’s commission on contraception. Zalba was in favour of keeping Church teaching on the subject as it was. Haring, like the majority of the commission, wanted to change it.

Haring recounted that during a particularly heated discussion Zalba turned towards him and said: Fr Haring do you mean to tell me that we sent all those people (who used contraceptives) to hell for nothing?

Haring answered: But my dear Fr Zalba do you think that God used to send people to hell just because you decreed that they should go to hell?”

True, isn’t it? But some do believe that “we say so” and God than follows their instructions.

Neither “Joe said so”

Within a specific religious community the argument – “God said so” - can and does have validity. Divine revelation, when and if rightly understood and interpreted (no mean task, I hasten to add), is, after all, very important for believers.

But I don’t think that in a pluralistic society this argument will get its users very far. In such a society dialogue has to be managed with people of different faiths, different interpretations of the same faith, no faith at all, people from different academic disciplines etc. Building bridges with those with whom we Catholics do not agree is a very difficult task indeed but nevertheless it is very important. It has to be done with love, patience, tolerance and a rational approach not with the “God said so” approach.

Sounds simple to me but on reading some arguments about divorce, marriage, indissolubility and natural law in local newspapers, blogs etc it seems that some people never learn! It is sad to note that the fundamentalist approach being taken by some secularists is being counteracted by a fundamentalist approach by some members of the Church.

At least so it seems to me. An important caveat as I do not want to be accused of substituting the “God said so” argument with a “Joe said so” one.

YouTube: Gay Scientists Isolate Christian Gene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCzbNkyXO50

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It-Torċa: Kuxjenza nfurmata ma tikkundannakx

Din hi t-tieni parti ta' l-istorja fuq l-Isqof Gumbleton. L-ewwel parti tista' taraha hawn.
www.it-torca.com (Dan l-artiklu mhux fuq is-sit s'issa)
7.9.8 Minn SAMMY SAMMUT

"Dejjem Uliedna" kien l-isem adattat li ngħata lil Ittra Pastorali mill-aktar importanti li ħarġu l-Isqfijiet Kattoliċi tal-Istati Uniti tal-Amerika, fejn huma jesprimu kompassjoni u assigurazzjoni speċjalment lill-ġenituri fejn hemm persuna gay jew lesbjana. "L-iskop tagħna kien li nassigurawhom li dawn uliedhom huma maħbubin minn Alla. Li m’għandhomx jiġu kkundannati. Li m’għandhomx ikunu miċħudin. Iżda li għandhom ikunu għal kollox aċċettati hekk kif inhuma. U dak kien pass importanti ħafna minn naħa tal-Knisja u ta’ l-Isqfijiet Kattoliċi Amerikani, inizjattiva li għenet mhux ftit lil ħafna ġenituri", jgħid l-Isqof Thomas J. Gumbleton.

Huwa jgħid li xi ġenituri ta’ persuni omosesswali rreaġixxew billi qalu: m’hemmx għalfejn tgħidli biex inħobb lill-ibni. Jien ġenitur, u se nħobb lill-ibni jgħid x’jgħid l-Isqof’. Madankollu matul is-snin, il-Knisja kienet iebsa wisq fil-kundanna tagħha lejn l-omosesswalità bla qatt qabel ma kienet tagħmel distinzjoni bejn dik li hi orjentazzjoni u l-attività nnifisha. Minħabba f’hekk, ħafna kienu dawk il-ġenituri li kienu għal kollox konfużi u ħasbu li kellhom jiċħdu lill-uliedhom. Ħasbu li uliedhom ma jistgħu qatt ikunu aċċettati u maħbubin minn Alla.

Daqstant ieħor kien hemm ħafna persuni gay li internament kienu ta’ l-istess konvinzjoni: Alla lili qatt ma jista’ jħobbni hekk kif jien, għax hemm xi ħaġa ħażina fija. gur li jien mżeblaħ u miċħud minn Alla’. B’dan it-tip ta’ raġunar, dawn jiċħdu lilhom infushom u pass pass jibdew litteralment ikissru lilhom infushom.






















L-Isqof Gumbleton

"Il-kwistjoni kollha tal-omosesswalità tinħtieġ bidla tremenda fil-mod ta’ kif in-nies jaħsbu il-persuna gay, il-familja, u l-ġenituri b’mod partikolari. Għalhekk, il-fatt li l-Isqfijiet Kattoliċi tal-Istati Uniti kienu kapaċi jgħidu dan, kien importanti. Infatti, aħna nsegwu t-tagħlim
tal-Knisja. U jien ivvutajt favur dik l-Ittra Pastorali u ċertament li nsegwiha attentament", jikkummenta l-Isqof Gumbleton.

Jispjega li "f’din l-Ittra Pastorali nagħmluha ċara li t-tagħlim Kattoliku huwa li l-attività omosesswali hija ħażina. Issa mbagħad hemm l-orjentazzjoni omosesswali jiġifieri għall-Knisja m’hemm xejn ħażin li tkun gay. U għalhekk tista’ tħobb għal kollox lilek innifsek, taċċetta lilek innifsek, eċċ. Iżda t-tagħlim Kattoliku sal-lum għadu jgħid li l-attività omosesswali hija ħażina."

Għalkemm wieħed ma jistax jgħid eżatt kemm hemm, però żgur li persentaġġ għoli ħafna ta’ persuni gay isibu dan kollu kontradittorju u diffiċli ħafna għalihom li jaċċettawh. U probabbilment ħafna ma jistghux jaċċettawh dik li jkollok orjentazzjoni iżda b’xi mod ma tista’ qatt taġixxi fuqha. Għax diffiċli ħafna li taċċetta li ħajtek se tkun mċaħħda minn kull tip ta’ intimità sesswali f’kull stadju ta’ ħajtek. U l-mistoqsija tiġi weħidha: Allura persuni bħal dawn x’jagħmlu, speċjalment fid-dawl tal-fatt li m’huma qed jagħmlu ħsara, jabbuża jew iweġġgħu lil ħadd?

"Jien ngħidilhom li huma għandhom jagħmlu dak li tagħmel kull persuna umana. Għandek tkompli titqabad biex issib mezz kif tintegra s-sesswalità tiegħek f’imġieba sana u spiritwalment tajba f’ħajtek. U dan jien ngħidu bħala persuna li ħaddant iċ-ċelibat. Ikolli nitgħallem u dan ma jsirx meta tieħu l-vot tal-kastità fl-ordinazzjoni tiegħek kif tista’ xorta tibqa’ persuna sesswali u tidħol fi ħbiberiji u ħbiberiji profondi u xorta tibqa’ ċelibi. Trid titgħallem kif tintegra dak li int bħala persuna sesswali f’ħajtek kollha. Din trid tkun integrazzjoni sana, u hemm modi xejn sani kif tkun ċelibi.

"Jiġifieri tista’ tgħakkes is-sesswalità tiegħek. Imma mbagħad, s’intendi, tista’ taġixxi b’modi diversi li m’humiex sani, meta tgħakkes parti importanti ħafna mill-persuna sħiħa tiegħek. Għalhekk trid titgħallem kif tintegra s-sesswalità tiegħek, iżżomm l-impenn tiegħek tal-kastità, u minkejja dan tikber b’mod san kemm psikoloġikament kif ukoll spiritwalment", jispjega l-Isqof Gumbleton.

Iżda kif japplika dan kollu għal persuna omosesswali? Huwa jwieġeb: "Matul is-snin tal-ħajja tagħhom dawn iridu jitqabdu ma’ din il-ħaġa. U jien ngħidilhom biex jieħdu kont ta’ dak li tgħid l-Iskrittura. Trid tieħu kont ta’ x’inhu t-tagħlim Kattoliku. Trid tifhem u tagħraf x’inhi r-rieda ta’ Alla għalik. Trid titkellem u tikkonsulta mad-diretturi spiritwali u ma’ min taf li kapaċi jagħtik pariri tajbin. U mbagħad, trid titħabat biex issib mezz kif int, bħala persuna, tikber f’persuna sħiħa fejn f’ħajtek tintegra s-sesswalità tiegħek.

"U waqt li tagħmel dan ftakar fit-tagħlim tal-knisja, li għadu tradizzjonali. Dak li aħna nsejħu l-primat tal-kuxjenza fuq kull ħaġa oħra, jien irrid nagħti kont lil Alla għal dak li ngħid, u dwar l-għażliet li nagħmel. U f’din it-taqbida tiegħek, meta tagħmel ċertu għażliet b’mod kemm jista’ jkun akkurat, tkun qed tagħmel dan skond il-konvinzjonijiet qawwija tal-kuxjenza tiegħek.

"Meta tagħmel dan ma tkunx ikkundannat minn Alla, ma tistax tkun, jekk tassew timxi skond kif tiddettalek il-kuxjenza tiegħek. Għax din tkun kuxjenza infurmata, ibbażata fuq id-dixxernament li tkun għamilt ta’ l-Iskrittura, tat-tagħlim Kattoliku, tal-ħajja tat-talb tiegħek u fuq dawk il-pariri mogħtijin lilek mid-diretturi spiritwali tiegħek, eċċ. "Imbagħad trid tibqa’ tipprova tikber fil-persuna l-aktar kompleta u sana li tista’ tkun. Ma nħossx li nista’ ngħid lil xi ħadd ieħor x’inhu l-aħjar mod għalih jew għaliha kif għandha taġixxi. Dan iridu jitgħallmuh huma, u jintegrawh fil-ħajja tagħhom. U jekk huma jsegwu l-kuxjenza tagħhom b’mod sinċier u awtentiku, allura huma qatt ma jistgħu jiġu kkundannati minn Alla". Mistoqsi jekk iħossux komdu bit-tagħlim tal-Knisja dwar l-omosesswalità, l-Isqof Gumbleton jispjega kif il-Knisja, matul is-sekli, ipprovat tgħallem dwar is-sesswalità fil-ħajja ta’ min ma jkunx miżżewweġ, fil-ħajja miżżewġa, fil-ħajja omosesswali, u dan it-tagħlim evolva matul is-snin, kif wara kollox ġara fil-każ ta’ kull tagħlim ieħor morali fi ħdan il-Knisja.

"Aktar ma nitgħallmu u nifhmu affarijiet ġodda, it-tagħlim jevolvi dejjem aktar. Mitt sena ilu, f’pajjiżi, l-Isqfijiet Kattoliċi mhux biss kienu jaċċettaw l-iskjavitù iżda kienu jinsistu li dan kien għal kollox ġustifikat. Iżda llum m’għadekx issib persuna waħda fil-Knisja li jgħid dan. L-istess qed jiġri fil-każ tal-piena kapitali. Sa ftit snin ilu, il-Knisja Kattolika xejn ma kienet tlaqlaq fl-appoġġ tagħha għall-piena kapitali mingħajr l-ebda limitazzjoni ta’ xejn. Iżda mbagħad, il-Papa mar quddiem il-Ġnus Magħquda u ddikjara: Le, m’hemm l-ebda mod kif wieħed jista’ jiġġustifika l-piena kapitali fid-dinja li fiha ngħixu.’

"U allura qegħdin nifhmu b’mod differenti d-dinja li fiha qegħdin ngħixu u allura t-tagħlim tagħna jaġġusta ruħu bl-istess mod. Ara fir-rigward tal-ħajja miżżewġa, kien hemm żmien meta l-Knisja Kattolika kienet tgħallem li jekk mhux biex iġibu t-tfal fid-dinja, persuni miżżewġin ma setgħux ikollhom x’jaqsmu sesswalment flimkien u fl-istess ħin ma jagħmlux dnub għax ikunu qegħdin jagħmlu dan għall-pjaċir tagħhom. Iżda llum żgur li jkun hemm min jiskanta jekk jisma’ xi ħaġa simili. Minkejja dan, hekk konna naħsbu u ngħallmu.

"Illum wieħed jifhem ferm aktar l-importanza ta’ l-intimità u l-intimità sesswali fi ħdan iż-żwieġ bħala mezz li jkabbar u jsaħħaħ ir-rabta bejn żewġ persuni. U li r-relazzjoni sesswali hija parti mill-aktar importanti tar-relazzjoni kollha taż-żwieġ. U f’dan kollu m’hemm xejn ħażin. B’għarfien akbar indunajna li dawn l-affarijiet m’għandhom ikollhom l-ebda ombra ta’ dnub".

L-Isqof Gumbleton ifakkar ukoll f’dak li kiteb l-Papa Ġwanni Pawlu nnifsu dwar il-ħajja miżżewġa u jiddiskrivih bħala mill-aktar idealistiku u sabiħ, waqt li joffri l-akbar appoġġ. Jgħid li dan kollu huwa riżultat ta’ għarfien akbar ta’ kemm l-intimità sesswali hija parti importanti fil-ħajja miżżewġa. L-Isqof Gumbleton jesprimi wkoll id-diżappunt tiegħu li għad ma wasalniex għall-istess għarfien ċar u finali fir-rigward ta’ l-omosesswalità. Anke mill-punt psikoloġiku u xjentifiku.

Allura, personalment, kemm iħossu komdu l-Isqof Gumbleton bit-tagħlim tal-Knisja fejn tidħol l-omosesswalità. Huwa jwieġeb: "Ngħid is-sew inħossni xi ftit skomdu dwar dan. Jista’ jkun ġej mill-fatt li darba minnhom, missier li ibnu beda jirrealizza li huwa gay, kien qalli: kif nista’ ngħid lill-ibni li huwa diżordinat?’ li huma l-kliem użati fid-dokument Papali.

"U jien ngħid lili nnifsi li kieku jien kont missier, żgur li ma nasal qatt li ngħid lill-ibni jew lil binti, "inti instrinsikament diżordinat u l-qofol tal-ħażen’. Dik hija ħaġa teribbli li qatt tista’ tgħid dwar ibnek. U jien ma nista’ qatt nemmen li dan huwa minnu. Li persuna tista’ tkun essenzjalment diżordinata, b’dan il-mod. Għalhekk jien naħseb li dawk huma kliem krudili u xejn ġustifikati, u jien bl-ebda mod qatt ma nista’ nippretendi lil xi ġenitur li jasal biex jgħid dan lill-ibnu jew lil binha".

Mela allura kif għandna nħarsu lejn ir-riġidità tal-Knisja fuq kwistjonijiet bħalma hija l-omosesswalita fil-kuntest ta’ l-istorja tal-Knisja matul is-sekli?

"Matul is-sekli, il-Knisja għamlet minn kollox biex tifhem u tagħraf il-verità u biex tgħallem il-verità kif rivelata minn Alla u speċjalment permezz ta’ Ġesù Kristu. U kien hemm diversi żminijiet fejn il-Knisja istituzzjonali u t-tmexxija tagħha ħassew li kellhom t-tweġiba sħiħa. U għalhekk kien hemm perijodi ta’ ripressjoni fi ħdan il-Knisja fejn jidħol il-ħsieb u l-iżvilupp tal-ħsieb, eċċ.

"Allura ma naħsibx li hemm xi papat wieħed li jista’ jiġi identifikat bħala papat fejn kien l-uniku żmien li dan qatt seħħ. M’għandniex għalfejn immorru ħafna l bogħod. Bħala eżempju ngħidu li mill-bidu tas-Seklu Għoxrin sa meta sar l-Konċilju Vatikan it-Tieni fl-1962, kien hemm ħafna teologi li ġew msikktin u ordnati li ma jitkellmux fil-pubbliku jew li jippubblikaw xogħlijiet minn tagħhom, apparti li kien hemm ukoll oħrajn li sfaw ikkundannati uffiċjalment. Minkejja dan, però, dawn l-istess teologi f’daqqa waħda saru l-esperti tal-Konċilju Vatikan it-Tieni u l-affarijiet li fl-imgħoddi kienu kkundannati, ġew aċċettati u kkonfermati.

"Għalhekk, għalija, dan jerġa jagħti prova li huwa ħażin għall-Knisja, b’mod uffiċjali jew b’xi mod ieħor, li tipprova twaqqaf l-iżvilupp tal-ħsieb, l-iżvilupp ta’ l-ideat, l-evoluzzjoni tal-ftehim dwar kwistjonijiet varji. Għax, xi darba għad nintebħu li dawk li sfaw msikktin kienu tassew qegħdin jgħidu l-verità", isostni l-Isqof Gumbleton.



Paċifist iżda kontroversjali

L-Isqof Awżilarju Emeritu ta’ Detroit, Dr Thomas Gumbleton huwa magħruf bħala wieħed mill-aktar Isqfijiet Kattoliċi Amerikani kontroversjali billi kemm-il darba esprima oppożizzjoni għat-tagħlim uffiċjali tal-Knisja Kattolika, partikolarment dak dwar l-omosesswalità. Fl-istess waqt huwa rikonoxxut bħala pacifist u wieħed mill-aktar isqfijiet liberali fl-Istati Uniti.

















L-Isqof Gumbleton

B’mod konsistenti jagħti l-appoġġ sħiħ tiegħu lill-għaqda New Ways Ministry, u għamel diversi appelli lil qassisin u isqfijiet gay biex "jiddikjaraw x’inhuma" u jkunu sinċieri magħhom infushom u ma’ dawk ta’ madwarhom. Kemm-il darba jkun mistieden jindirizza konferenzi, fosthom dawk organizzati minn Call for Action, fejn jiddiskuti suġġetti varji ma’ personalitajiet kattoliċi liberali, bħalma huma Hans Kung u l-Isqof Jacques Gaillot.

Fatt interessanti kien meta għal għas-servizz liturġiku fi knisja kien libes mitra li mas-salib kellha wkoll is-simboli tal-qawsalla u t-trianglu roża, li jissimbolizza d-drittijiet ta’ persuni omosesswali u li kien jintuża min-Nażżisti fil-kampijiet ta’ konċentrament biex jiddentifikaw persuni gay. Kien ukoll ħoloq kontroversja fl-2005 meta ħabbar li ma kienx se jibgħat l-ittra mandatorja ta’ riżenja mill-kariga tiegħu kif kull isqof huwa obbligat li jagħmel kif jagħlaq l-età ta’ 75 sena. Minflok kien kiteb u talab biex ikompli b’ħidmietu, "għax hija ħaġa arbitrarja kif lil xi wħud jinjorawhom, iżda jekk tinzerta li tkun xi ftit progressiv, immedjatament jaċċettaw ir-riżenja tiegħek". Huwa kien sfurzat jirtira sena wara, fl-età ta’ 76 sena.

L-Isqof Gumbleton kemm-il darba ġibed l-attenzjoni permezz ta’ protesti pubbliċi kontra azzjonijiet vjolenti. Fl-1999 kien ġie arrestat barra l-White House flimkien ma’ ħdax-il persuna oħrajn li kienu qegħdin jipprotestaw kontra l-gwerra, "għax kienu qed jiksru l-paċi pubblika".

Kemm-il darba semma’ leħnu kontra l-gwerra fl-Iraq, fejn għal darba oħra safa’ arrestat barra l-White House minħabba "diżubbidjenza ċivili", flimkien ma’ l-Isqof Metodist C. Joseph Sprague, ir-Rabbi Arthur Waskow, ir-rebbieħa tal-Premju Nobel għall-Paċi Mairead Corrigan Maguire u Jody Williams u membri oħrajn ta’ għaqdiet li jiġġieldu favur il-paċi. Iddistingwa ruħu bħala li kien l-uniku Isqof Kattoliku Ruman fl-Amerika li ħa sehem f’azzjoni simili bi proteta kontra l-gwerra. Barra minn hekk, fl-imgħoddi, huwa kien ukoll arrestat kemm-il darba minħabba sehmu waqt protesti kontra l-armi nukleari.

Ftit ta’ żmien ilu kien ukoll ġibed l-attenzjoni tal-midja bl-aħbar li meta kien għadu żagħżugħ adoloxxenti fis-seminarju kien ġie abbużat sesswalment minn qassis. L-Isqof Gumbleton iddikjara: "Ma rridx nesaġera iżda dan il-fatt kien effettwani ħażin ferm. Ma kienx it-tip ta’ abbuż sesswali li ħafna mill-vittmi jesperjenzaw", waqt li jkompli jispjega kif "dawn jiġu intimidati, imbarrazati, u kull ma jagħmlu hu li jidfnu kollox fihom infushom. Jien nista’ nifhimhom għax jien qatt ma kont għidt xejn lill-ġenituri tiegħi". Jgħid li kien qed jgħid dan biex jinkoraġġixxi persuni Kattoliċi li sfaw abbużati biex iressqu l quddiem l-ilmenti tagħhom permezz tal-mezzi uffiċjali.

Matul ħajtu, l-Isqof Gumbleton rebaħ għadd kbir ta’ premjijiet, fosthom l-Isaac Hecker Peacemaker, Pacem in Terris Award, Public Citizen of the Year mill-Assoċjazzjoni tas-Social Workers, mill-Institute for Peace and Justice, il-Justice and Peace Medal, il-premju mill-Jewish National Fund, mill-Palestine Aid Society, Spirit of Detroit Award, l-Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, l-Humanitarian Award, Prophets of Peace Award, Civic & Humanitarian Award, Community Peace Maker Award u l-Global Peace Award.