TOWARDS THE MAINSTREAM – GABI CALLEJA

She’s well-known for her outspoken views and tireless activism but Gabi Calleja, the coordinator of MGRM, longs for the day when the Malta Gay Rights Movement will no longer need to exist. Text by Louisa Bartolo

“I remember walking up and down the carpark three times before entering a gay bar for the first time,” says Gabi Calleja. Now well-known as coordinator of the Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM), it seems strange to think of a time when she might not have been at ease with her sexuality.

She was 30 at the time and having been deeply involved in the Christian community had moved to Bristol for a couple of years to work as a Diocesan youth worker in Clifton. It was there that Gabi – who until then had never dated anyone and wondered what was wrong with her – had the space to think about her sexuality. Many of the first people she came out to were members of the religious community. “Their reaction was always very positive.”

Being Gay and Religious

Were her religious beliefs and sexuality difficult to reconcile? “For me, once I came out, the internal conflict – ‘the God issue’ – was resolved. My problem was with the Church’s teachings not with God.” Despite being so active within the Christian community, Gabi says that she had always questioned many of the tenets underpinning it: like the celibacy of priests, the role of women and its views on pre-marital sex. Having embraced her sexuality, however, she didn’t feel she could be part of an institution that considered it “disordered” to be homosexual.

“It was a question of standing back and saying: ‘This doesn’t work for me anymore.” Shortly after coming out Gabi returned to Malta where she started working with Appogg. She got in touch with MGRM – the movement set up two years earlier to promote LGBT rights in Malta – where she quickly took on a prominent role. “It’s ironic that the skills and values I picked up from the Diocesan community inform the work I do today: things like commitment and caring for others,” says Gabi, “it’s just that I put them to different use.”

Gay Rights Activism in Malta

In Malta, the LGBT population is calculated to be equal in size to the population of persons with a disability, she says. But while there are some 50 organizations dedicated to disability issues, MGRM, Drachma – a support group for religious LGBT people – and a fledgling university group called “We Are” – are pretty much the only organizations representing the LGBT community in Malta. “The number of people who choose to volunteer is very small in general and with LGBT it’s more complicated still because there’s the coming out issue.” Gabi explains that it is still very difficult to find people to go on TV representing MGRM for example, even if they have come out to their parents. “For some parents it’s a case of ‘OK, you’re out, but there’s no need to shove it in people’s faces’… and most people don’t want to hurt their parents.” Notwithstanding these limitations, Gabi believes that in terms of its impact and visibility, MGRM is one of Malta’s strongest NGOs.

And the need for a strong and visible MGRM, says Gabi, is very real. “In Malta, while you can organize a pride march without violence, pushing through legal reform is hard.” In terms of things like anti-discrimination in the equal provision of goods and services and family rights for the LGBT community, Gabi points out that Malta is comparable to a number of Eastern European countries – all of which have poor track records of LGBT human rights.

Gay Rights across Europe

In a recent report by ILGA-Europe – the European branch of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association – Malta actually scores lower than countries like Bulgaria and Romania when it comes to legal provisions for LGBT people. The report, which rates European countries’ laws and administrative practices according to 24 categories, places countries on a scale between minus seven – which indicates “gross violations of human rights and discrimination of LGBT people” and 17 – indicating “respect of human rights and full legal equality of LGBT people”. Malta scores 0 – placing it on a par with Italy, slightly above Turkey
and Cyprus both of which rank minus two and way below countries like Spain and the UK which received a score of 12 and 12.5 respectively.

Let’s talk Marriage and Adoption

While MGRM has long pushed for antidiscrimination legislation and the recognition of same sex couples, there has been a clear shift in the last few months. “Initially MGRM was more cautious,” says Gabi. “We didn’t talk about marriage and children – now we do.” Malta experiences the same kinds of problems witnessed in other countries where religion still has a strong hold – countries like Cyprus, Italy and Greece. “People are not against civil partnership but marriage is still very much associated with religious ceremony,” says Gabi. “The civil side of marriage is forgotten. People also associate marriage with procreation and again, in people’s minds gay people can’t have children.”

Despite acknowledging cultural barriers, Gabi is in no doubt where the real problem lies. “It is lack of political will that’s holding us back. If there was political will it would be irrelevant what the Church preached.” So far the PN has been “the hardest nut to crack,” says Gabi – while the PL and AD have proposed same sex civil partnerships while stopping short of granting marriage equality. “We get told by politicians that society isn’t ready,” says Gabi, sounding weary. “My perception is that when politicians say that, they are then unwilling to invest in an issue.”

So is the battle for marriage equality winnable? “It’s inevitable,” she says. “But whether it will take a year, five, 10, 20 years or more is a different matter. That’s where MGRM comes in – to speed up the process while supporting the gay community.”

The Times they are a-Changing

A number of developments have been behind this growing confidence in the possibility of change. The recent divorce referendum, for instance, and recent EU judgments which have been moving closer to establishing same sex civil unions as a universal right have also provided cause for hope, she says. Gabi insists that the main reason behind MGRM’s growing assertiveness, however, is its links to foreign NGOs mainly through its work with ILGA-Europe. She argues that growing collaboration with foreign LGBT organizations has broadened the movement’s outlook and professionalized its approach. “MGRM is very respected at the ILGA-Europe level,” says Gabi proudly. “It is seen as punching above its weight.”

As one of the only LGBT movements in Malta, how representative of the diverse voices of the community can MGRM really claim to be? Gabi is the first to admit that having many organizations would be a good thing but argues that MGRM’s volunteers – whose ages range from 18 to 55 – provide the organization with quite a good cross-section of the LGBT population.

LGBT Elderly

One group which Gabi says she wishes MGRM could reach out to more, however, is the LGBT population over the age of 60. “This age group is virtually invisible. Elderly gay people often face a number of challenges when they are put into a home for example. Brought up at a time when homosexuality was still considered a criminal offence, this is a group that needs more support.”

She qualifies my question on whether MGRM comes across as quite intellectual, perhaps making it unapproachable to some. “If MGRM comes across that way it is only because the people who write proposals or reports are more visible. In reality, our work is vast and makes use of people with a wide range of backgrounds and skill sets.”

Minority Identities

Now in a loving relationship with Nadine, the 41-year-old Gabi has come a long way from the woman pacing up and down the carpark outside a gay bar in Bristol. “I want what most people want,” she says with a smile, “love and the possibility of a family. I don’t see myself as a victim but as a member of an oppressed minority.

That doesn’t mean I’m not empowered.” In her work as MGRM coordinator, Gabi spends a lot of her time listening to people’s stories. This is what makes her work meaningful but it can also be emotionally difficult, she says.

Does she worry that MGRM might be reinforcing a kind of besieged minority identity – “ghettoizing” a community which might be better off integrating with the rest of society rather than marking itself off? “Some people have problems with groups like LGBT Labour,” says Gabi. “I have no issue with minority groups. Of course the ideal is that LGBT issues should move into the mainstream but having groups feeding into that process is a good thing.” She pauses. “I long for the day when MGRM will no longer be needed.” She sighs. “But that is unlikely.”

Photography by Alan Carville -§- Art Direction by John Mizzi -§- Style consultant: Noelene Miggiani -§- Hair by Rodianne at Innovations by Ro -§- Make-up by Shasha

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Posted by Louisa Bartolo on August 16, 2011. Filed under Cover Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry