From Chapter 1 - Laws of Malta

"Gay and lesbian rights in Malta are decades behind the rest of Europe. The era of equality, protecting gay men and lesbian - as individuals, as couples and as families - has not yet dawned. Some legislators and members of the judiciary still show awful ignorance of gay men and lesbians. No one seriously expects them to inform and educate the public. Also disconcerting is the lack of political will on the part of Malta's gay men and lesbians to confront injustice head-on. Notwithstanding the progress of the last decade, much remains to be done. Some have been all too wrapped up with respectability. Our liberation is more than a public-relations exercise. It is about confronting injustice, maintaining our rage and fighting for a new awakening. Freedom and equality are not realised without suffering. Arguably today's activists have a softer road to travel than that trekked by overseas activists of the 1970s.

   Malta today is a very different country from that of three decades ago. There has been a marked increase in society's acceptance of gay men and lesbians. The Catholic Church in Malta, our enduring enemy and once an unassailable institution, is becoming increasingly fragile and irrelevant, and Malta's young look on the Catholic hierarchy with growing suspicion. There are also avenues of redress in international law that earlier activists could only have dreamed of."

From Chapter 2 - Decriminalization of Homosexuality in Malta

"Malta's prophets of doom came out in force. In decriminalization, they saw a bonanza for perverts with homosexuals coming out of the woodwork. Imagine it all: poofters and dykes hanging out of wooden balconies ... poofters and dykes in the nation's palace and parliament ... poofters and dykes guarding citadels and cities ... poofters and dykes created Knights and Dames of St John ... poofters and dykes gossiping in the village squares ... poofters and dykes in convents and monasteries ... poofters and dykes everywhere .... and not a straight man or woman in sight! Dr Tabone (NP) thought decriminalization would serve homosexuals to the detriment of society. Dr Joseph Cassar Galea (NP) panicked at the prospect of sodomites overrunning his dear little Catholic Malta. All this was to transpire without a homosexual in sight fighting for his or her rights! Dr Mifsud-Bonnici (NP) offered a more realistic assessment. He did not see decriminalization and liberation as synonymous. How could they be? One parliamentarian after another depicted homosexuals as sick, immoral and enemies of the family and society. Politicians of all political persuasions who should have known better took it for granted that homosexuals were out there to prey on the young.

   Reform of the Criminal Code did not usher in a gay and lesbian movement. Some of the blame for this sad state of affairs lies squarely on the shoulders of some homosexuals ... particularly those among them who were well educated, well connected and well-off. Prominent Maltese entered marriages of convenience, deserting their wives and children at night to roam beats. They were unmindful, uncaring and disinterested in the anguish of their fellow and not so fortunate brothers and sisters. And when, at long last, a kind of gay liberation slowly emerged in Malta during the 1990s, it did so not with a bang but a whimper!"

From Chapter 3 - A Joyless Overreaction to Decriminalization: Retort of the Roman Catholic Bishops

"The Church's call for greater government consultation was a gimmick designed to buy it time to sway public opinion against the government. It is quite ironic that an undemocratically elected hierarchy of celibate men of unknown sexuality with no mandate from believers whom it never consults should criticize a government for failing to consult it. Why, I ask, should a democratically elected government accountable to an electorate consult an undemocratic hierarchy of men accountable to no one but God?"

"Bachelor theologians, celibate and sexually neurotic, abhorred all things sexual. Virginity, as they saw it, was a calling from God, higher than marriage including its Josephite variety, with total continence. They were not to defile themselves with women. The hostility towards marriage drove many, homosexuals included, to a celibate life. Neurotic homosexuals became priests and took on the mantel of bedroom inspectors. Against such a perverse theological background, the Church's elevation of marriage to a sacrament and its categorisation of homosexual behaviour as sin not only make little sense ... they are outright nonsense!"

From Chapter 4 - Points of Entry: Public Places and Private Parties

"Beats flourished in the centre of towns. Not so long ago, a picnic atmosphere prevailed at a prominent beat in Valletta ... until clandestine migrants colonized it. Groups of gay men gathered at a nearby kiosk, only a few metres away from a public latrine. They went prepared ... not always with condoms but with cut sandwiches, keeping a watchful eye on the stairs of the public toilet as they sipped their short and long blacks. Not all beats are in the centre of town. Some, like Gnejna, are in far away and hard-to-find and get-to places, not within easy reach of the public or the police."

"Republic Street is Valletta's main artery and still Malta's principal commercial and shopping street. The Wembley Store occupies a central position along this artery. Visitors to Valletta stroll past the Wembley Store. If you stand outside the Store, you can spot passersby as they enter and leave Valletta through City Gate. During the 1960s and 1970s, a small band of young men met outside the Wembley Store. The band made its way to Valletta's Lantern Bar, a gay-friendly pub in Sappers Street.... One of them later recalled: 'during the late sixties and seventies the Bar used to be packed ... with gays, both local and foreign, and the owners made good money on the drinks gays bought there'." 

"This band of men was, most probably, the first of its kind in modern Malta to 'flaunt' its sexuality. The Wembley Store boys contributed greatly to gay life in Malta. They converged outside the Wembley Store to talk, to exercise their right of assembly (not unlike straight boys) ... and every so often be intimate in the Store's narrow doorway! They defied dominant heterosexual culture and challenged traditional Roman Catholic values. They were a barometer of youths' discomfort with gender stereotyping and disenchantment with the establishment. They were our precursors, the John the Baptists of Malta's gay and lesbian liberation." 

From Chapter 5 - Two Guts and a British Fleet

"The drag queens of Strait Street and Balzunetta occupy a critical place in our emerging gay and lesbian history. They diffused society's fear of the homosexual. Homosexuality was no longer an abomination but became 'a fit subject for music hall humour'. The stereotype of the amusing and zany fairy counteracted that of the debauched, criminal and child molesting homosexual."

"Some first sexual encounters were not all that easy to forget. An eighteen year old gay man (now a grandfather) remembers meeting a thirty or so year old Red Arrows pilot. The pilot offered him a ride in his flying machine. The young man happily took up the offer but regretted it when the pilot 'stopped the plane in mid air' to fondle him. Fearing he was about to be plunged to his death, he pleaded with the pilot to return him to earth: 'At first I was excited but, Oh Lady Mother of God, a plane takes off and all of a sudden you are hemmed in by clouds that look like cotton ... no heaven and no earth! And I was scared! Wouldn't you be?'"

"Life at the Klondyke was not without its lighter moments. Frankie, another female impersonator, was at the Klondyke when he noticed a young handsome sailor looking in his direction. He thought his luck had changed. Cookie saw the sailor staring at Frankie's sister who was sitting alongside her brother and warned Frankie. Frankie was unimpressed: 'Get out of my way. You're only jealous!' He was about to slap Cookie on the face when Cookie screamed out: 'Hi, Haqq iz-zobb! You may be blond and beautiful but I am not jealous of you!' So Cookie landed the first punch: 'I throw the first punch.' A struggle ensued. The patrons quickly formed themselves into two groups: a group barracking for Cookie, another for Frankie. All Cookie could hear was 'Go on, Cookie!' 'Go on, Frankie!'"

"In discussing British colonial rule in the Maltese archipelago, local historians have tended to focus on British dominance and influence on Malta's institutions and less on its impact on ordinary Maltese. They have looked at the big issues and the big men who squabbled over matters of national importance. Ordinary men and women, especially those of them who were gay and lesbian, mattered little. Their ordeals, fears, hopes and aspirations have neither been recorded nor celebrated. The pursuit for homogeneity has overshadowed the importance of the many components that go to make up society. But what of the influence of the British Fleet on Malta's gay men and lesbians, many of whom earned their living from the flourishing economies of Strait Street and Balzunetta? What about their stories?"

"British servicemen in Malta inspired Malta's gay men and lesbians to shun their former restrictive lifestyles. They pushed them out of the shadowy haunts of Strait Street and Balzunetta - home to Malta's underprivileged - to dance to the tunes of the bands, the rumbas, the sambas, the cha cha chas and the mambos. Banished from mainstream Malta and denied a sense of dignity, they found allies in the female impersonators, the prostitutes, the pimps and the sailors that roamed Strait Street and Balzunetta. In the bars, the restaurants, the cabarets and the lodgings, they were free - albeit briefly and discreetly - to live as they really were. Here is where their song began ... and sometimes ended. Here, the whispers of Malta's most trodden grew into a midnight serenade. For them, day had not yet dawned!"

From Chapter 6 - Carnival: Self-Mockery or Empowerment?

"Carnival has its downside. It demeans gay men and lesbians who are valued not for their humanity but for their ability to entertain. Gay men are depicted as shameless, permissive, out-of-control and effeminate. They linger on as predators, if not of young boys, then of adult heterosexual men. Male transvestites are all too often misogynist, with a venomous tongue for women. They poke fun at, downgrade and put women 'in their place'. They represent women not as madonnas but as whores and gloss over woman's feminine and nurturing role. They warn men of the traps of marriage. They seek to control and 'trick' them into believing they are women. Carnival may afford a significant stepping stone to the road of personal and communal liberation but it distorts the diversity and richness of the gay community. It also creates an illusory sense of freedom ... a safety valve that lasts only a few days. As Carnival mayhem draws to a close, gay men and lesbians revert to their closets. Gay is no longer out ... no longer proud ... if ever it was!"

"Malta's fledging gay community quickly rose to the challenge. A fashion show, probably the first of its kind, was held in the precincts adjacent to the Hotel Phoenicia, opposite the car park. The precincts consisted of two buildings: a single storey dwelling and a double storey residence. Some rooms were home to cooks employed at the Hotel Phoenicia. Miss Easter, a profane prelude to this religious season, took place in 1968/1969. Controversy immediately beset the event when Miss Easter decided to mingle with the guests to extend the season's greetings to them, wearing nothing but a ribbon bow tied around his scrotum. An enterprising young man photographed the event. He hid the photographs in a drawer. His father stumbled across them and handed them over to the police. Louis recalled the hilarious event: 'Once they organized Miss Easter. It was held below the Phoenicia.... It was not open to the public. There was also a party. He took some photos and he kept them in a drawer and his father found them. He took them to the Police Station and they arrested everyone. They made a bow. Naked, of course! A bow like so!' Such a manner of welcoming Easter was unheard of in Catholic Malta. A police enquiry followed. Participants and guests were hurled into a police station, interrogated and released on probation. How times change! Years later, organizers of Miss Banda employed local policemen as bouncers."

From Chapter 7 - From the Neighbourhood Bar to the Gay Bar

"The Why Not? had several theme nights and beauty contests. One beauty contest is etched in the minds of many. A drag queen, about to complete her turn, thought it a good idea to tap the blinds of a nearby window with a stick. At the gentle touch, the blinds rolled up, revealing to the passing crowd below a rather skimpily-clad drag queen in a feathery bikini. Straight men rushed into the Why Not? and an already packed venue became even more crowded."

"The arrival of the British Fleet in Malta opened up a new world for gay men and lesbians. There were fleet cruises and exercises, endless parades, new sports and a range of divine services. There were new forms of entertainment including cinemas and music halls, lodging houses, alcohol and servicemen. Sailors danced with other sailors. In July 1908, sailors aboard HMS Canopus danced openly with each other on a jetty to the tunes of a Maltese band. There were fancy dress parties, like those aboard HMS Benbow.

   With the submarines, destroyers, cruisers, frigates, fleet oilers, depot ships, aircraft carriers, battleships and mine sweepers came men ... plenty of men ... men in peak physical fitness. Gay men gravitated to the ports and the watering holes. Along with drunken brawls and sleepless nights came emotional and sexual intimacies. The departure of the Royal Navy from Malta left a void that the island's growing tourist industry could not adequately fill. Even after the departure of the British Fleet, gay men continued to patronize the bars that were once places of pleasure for British servicemen. They dreamed of the handsome servicemen who were once there. Sailors willing to try anything. But the bars were no longer exciting and gay men turned to neighbouring bars ... Tessie's, the Coronation Bar, Lord Nelson, the Windmill, Terrick's Bar, Camp's, the Bavarian, the Lantern, the Sixpence and the S Club. Some neighbourhood hang outs were bustling; others subdued. The atmosphere was not always the same. There were bars that were welcoming and friendly; others, unfriendly if not outright hostile. Gay bars then emerged ... Potters, Diddies, Tom Bar and the Lizard Lounge, the Site and the Nix, Pips, the Metropolis, the Playboy, Gaiety's, Why Not?, LooseEnds, Lady Godiva, Nathasha and the Chameleon Club. Many harped back to a bygone era, the good old days when Britain ruled the waves ... not only in the English names of the bars but also in the sentiments that these names evoked."

From Chapter 8 - A Taste of Beastly Desires

"Mary loved Carnival. She often dressed up as a Turk. Occasionally she and a girlfriend also marched in the parade, dressed as strongmen. One of her favourite spots was the Majestic, a cinema in Sliema that was refurbished into a ballroom during Carnival. Not everyone respected her. Some crossed to the other side of the street to avoid her. Children screamed abuse at her but Mary held her ground. She would stop and directly face her abusers without saying a word. Having made her point, she would continue on her way. Controversy always surrounded the issue of her gender. Some thought she was a hermaphrodite."

"Near Saqqajja, I approached an elderly woman as she was about to board a bus to ask her if she had heard of Patist l-iskarpan. She had and, to my surprise and without any prompting from me, added that she knew other 'omosesswali' whom she affectionately labelled the 'gang of homosexuals'. Many of Rabat's homosexual men that I was to learn about were effeminate. Some dressed up as women and, as one elderly and politically incorrect Rabat resident put it, 'gossiped like them' They were amusing and at the forefront of popular local entertainment, especially Carnival. Their extended families lived at Rabat. They were ordinary men, making ordinary contributions to an ordinary life. In a village that once thrived on prostitution, few dared to cast the first stone."

"Until recently, Malta was relatively isolated from the modern international gay and lesbian movement. Gay and lesbian life was less apparent than in many nearby European countries. The 1990s brought changes but Malta continues to lag behind its northern neighbours in every aspect of gay and lesbian rights. Malta's gay men and lesbians are 'people without a written history' We have yet to trace our footprints, the events and people of significance to us. Our history, as told by our oppressors, is one of deceit, seeking to suppress any proof of same-sex love."

"We need to go beyond mere theoretical discussions, and it is incumbent on us to promote scholarly studies of homosexuality within a Maltese context. Maltese conservatives continue to play down the extent of homosexuality in Malta".

"In many respects, 'heir'country remains a closed society with a fundamentalist Pauline Christian theology pervading every aspect of life including sex and sexuality. It falls on us to affirm and celebrate our identity. We must not be carried away by the deceit, threats and lies of our oppressors."

From Chapter 9 - Maltese Gay Speech

"Sadly, Maltese literary critics rarely go out in search of the gay and lesbian subtext and, in the past, Maltese readers had little more than the double entendres and insider references that straight audiences invariably passed over."

"Language belongs to us. It is a vehicle for communication. It helps us express our thoughts and feelings. In recent decades, lexicographers and linguists have started to turn their attention to queer language. Some dictionaries such as the Canadian Oxford Dictionary list not only definitions of gay and lesbian terms but also have a redefinition of 'marriage' to reflect the new reality. Given the significance of homosexuality, past generations of Maltese gay men and lesbians invariably generated their own 'speech'. But Maltese language scholars have passed over this reality. For far too long, many of them have been Roman Catholic monks and priests, pleasure-hating celibates who have promoted not only a siege mentality but also an ascetic and sexless language. Non-clerical writers and academics have, in the main, embraced the world view of these prelates. Even today Maltese scholars continue to neglect gay speech ... but as heterogeneity envelopes the nation and Malta's gay men and lesbians become more visible and more daring, the Maltese language, our mother tongue too, will also begin to echo both our living and our loving."

From Chapter 10 - Homosexualizing Maltese Literature

"Differently from other minorities, gay men and lesbians have found little to nurture and sus­tain them in literature. Often, they have come to understand and accept themselves through the literary representations of others, however oppressive such representations may have been. So what is gay and lesbian literature? Is it that genre of literature that only takes in the writings of out-and-proud gay men and lesbians who frankly explore the many facets of homosexuality and homoeroticism? What of the writings of closeted gay men and lesbians who suppress (or try to put down) their homosexual and homoerotic sensitivity but who, unintentionally, sketch out their homosexual experience? What of the literature of men and women who are not (or are not believed to be) homosexual but who nevertheless look into the experiences of gay men and lesbians?"

"In 2008, Pubblikazzjoni Bronk published Xandru Mizzewweg u Gay (Xandru Married and Gay), a novel by Vella Sammut, a pseudonym. The use of a fictitious name in place of an author's legal name or his or her well known literary pen name is puzzling to say the least. After all, Maltese literary culture is not renowned for the use of pseudonyms.... 

   From the standpoint of an out-and-proud gay man, the employment of a pseudonym is a measure of last resort. It harks back to the days when newspapers blacked out the names and photographs of the gay men and lesbians they talked to.... With all due respect, I do not buy into Vella Sammut's claim that the main reason for using a pseudonym was his wish to boost the protagonist's chances of taking centre stage. Readers, after all, are very resourceful (and the best writers are often avid readers). The lecturer whom Vella Sammut quotes but nowhere identifies is not saying that an author's identity is not relevant. I accept that a text should stand on its own two feet (nothing pisses me more than poets trying to clarify what they have written!) but texts are written (and read) in context. St Paul's proclamations on homosexuality, by way of an example, have to take into account the prospect that St Paul himself may have been homosexual...."

"Not so long ago, gay and lesbian writers wrote under a pseudonym to protect their identity and that of their family and friends. Many were ashamed of their sexuality and suffered from low self-esteem. Even Allen Ginsberg considered writing about his homosexuality under a pseudonym for no other reason than to keep his homosexuality under wraps. In this case, and putting to one side Vella Sammut's orientation (whatever that may be), the author's estimation of the 'state of affairs' in Malta is, to my mind, the primary and most significant reason why he elected to use a pseudonym. Put simply, I do not find the author's other 'reasons' very convincing." 

"Maltese literature is desperately in need of a gay and lesbian literary tradition. It has no Sappho! No Cavafy! No André Gide! No Jean Genet! No Oscar Wilde! No Gerard Manley Hopkins! No Radcliffe Hall! No EM Forster! No Walt Whitman! No Allen Ginserg! This should hardly surprise anyone. Before Malta's independence from Britain on 21 September 1964, Maltese writers faced the unenviable task of creating a literature in a language long regarded by many as the 'language of the kitchen' and an inappropriate vehicle for literary expression. Writers painstakingly tried to present a united front and avoid serious critical analysis of their works. Disunity and critical scrutiny, they thought, reflected adversely on the Maltese language. They were wrapped up in the family, religion and the homeland when homosexuality was still considered a sin, a crime and an illness. Their world of God, country and family ruled out any consideration of gay men and lesbians."

"Following independence, Malta's new generation of writers faced different challenges. They were more prone to risk-taking and self-analysis and as the local media took up the debate on homosexuality, the life experiences of gay men and lesbians started to arouse their interest. Putting to one side the moralistic drivel of writers like Nicholas-Borg and Buontempo, representations of gay men and lesbians have been in the main stereotypical. Writers remained at arm's length from their homosexual subjects and, more often than not, showed little empathy towards them. Worse still, they misrepresented them. Meantime, gay and lesbian literature continues to flourish in other countries ... and not just at the margins of mainstream literature. Homosexuality may no longer be invisible in Maltese literature but where are those writers who identify themselves as gay or lesbian and who celebrate and take pride in their lives?"

From Chapter 11 - Like There is no Tomorrow!

"Invisibility is our great stumbling block. The formation of groups of gay men and lesbians represents a triumph over our invisibility, our shame, our guilt and our unhappiness. Groups empower gay men and lesbians to forge a communal identity that mainstream society can no longer discard or ignore. Groups teach gay men and lesbians to accept themselves for what they are, to be happy to be gay and lesbian. No gay and lesbian group is ever truly representative of our community. At best, groups come to represent fragments of our gay and lesbian reality...."

"Many of their members were drawn from the middle class or from persons who more readily identified with that class. On the downside, professional groups tend to lose sight of the fact that they are not always representa­tive of all gay men and lesbians and that their actions may alienate large sections of the community they seek to represent. All three groups chose English names for their organizations, unwittingly reinforcing a local stereotype of the homosexual as the mincing style queen from Sliema and its surroundings, thereby denying their organizations significant grass root support."

"Gay and lesbian groups have a duty to provide reasons as to why we are oppressed and map out a way to overcome this oppression. They need to have the courage to strike at the pillars of oppression ... to demand, not beg for or negotiate our rights. Their voice may - for now at least - be a voice in the wilderness but as long as it is out and proud, it is the voice of our liberation."

"On the 9 January 2000, The Malta Independent carried a report of Sandro Mangion's interview with me. Mangion had interviewed me a few weeks earlier as I was winding up a visit to Malta. The article, 'Gay political action urged by Maltese emigrant', broadcast my call for the formation of a 'real homosexual political movement in Malta.' Our movement encompasses all gay men and lesbians who are out of the closet and who go about their daily business of gay and lesbian liberation. They may do so at home, at work or at the helm of a political demonstration. A movement embraces all individuals whether or not they belong to any organization. All out and proud individuals and all gay and lesbian groups form part of 'our' movement and no individual or group can claim the movement as his or her own."

From Looking Ahead

"Reports of homosexual behaviour in seminaries are not new and I have to admit I have enjoyed a frolic or two or three or four in these hallowed places! I recall Pentecostal meetings being followed by orgiastic sessions that gave a new significance and poignancy to 'speaking in tongues'. But in April 1999, the sleepy island of Malta was aroused out of its drowsiness by rumours that an Apostolic Visitor (Monsignor Vincent Logan) was in Malta to investigate claims of homosexual conduct in the seminary. I wonder to this day whether there was any truth to the rumours and if the Visitor stumbled on any evidence of sexual misconduct. Why is the Maltese Church not being transparent? What is it hiding? Or is there substance to the claim that a religious and priestly vocation in the Roman Catholic Church is in and of itself an attractive option for closeted and not-so-closeted homosexuals?"