Independent: Gays take exception to President’s comments

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=100893
30.1.10?

The Malta Gay Rights Movement said it was misguided of President George Abela to define the family by excluding a significant minority. In what it called an open letter to the President, the movement referred to the national conference on the family, which Dr Abela addressed.

It said Dr Abela defined the family “as a man and a woman, in a life-long commitment, linked to procreation”, and emphasised the need of having a mother and a father for the family to exist. This excluded all married couples who could not have children, including childless couples, adoptive and foster parents, single parents, and cohabiting couples, the movement said, apart from gay and lesbian parents.

The President held that marriage was understood to mean the natural union of a man and a woman based on the difference between the sexes. “The implication is that a union between two people of the same sex is of course unnatural,” the movement said.

To make matters worse, it added, the President also questioned whether children adopted by same-sex couples could lead to them suffering psychological and social harm.

The movement said only one type of family was considered at the family. “All others were demonised and shot down a priori as was made evident throughout the day in the presentations, panels and interviews. It was in fact nothing more than propaganda for a conservative government’s agenda and the religious right that sits solidly behind it, present in full force,” it said.