The SOGIGESC Unit’s second Annual Conference was held
on the 9th of September 2020. The theme chosen for the conference
was “The Road to LGBTIQ Equality: Progress and Challenges”.
The conference was addressed by both the Minister for
Justice, Equality and Governance, Hon. Edward Zammit Lewis through a video
message, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Equality and Reforms, Hon.
Rosianne Cutajar. Both reiterated the Government’s commitment in achieving full
equality and to mainstream it through all sectors of life.
The LGBTIQ Equality Strategy and Action Plan 2018-2022
- Annual Report September 2019 – September 2020 was presented by the Head of the SOGIGESC
Unit. It outlines all the work carried out by the Unit in advancing LGBTIQ
equality in the second year since the launch of the national strategy and
continues to build on the annual report of the previous year.
A keynote address by Miltos Pavlou from FRA followed,
outlining some of the results achieved by Malta as evidenced in the EU LGBTI
survey II. Pavlou was the Project Manager in charge of
carrying out this survey within the European Union Agency for Fundamental
Rights.
Pavlou also sat on the second panel, chaired by
Beverley Abela Gatt, co-founder of the Rainbow Support Services. This panel explored
how government’s efforts have affected the lives of LGBTIQ persons in Malta.
Finally, the second panel discussion, chaired by Dr.
Claire Azzopardi Lane, Deputy Dean of the Faculty for Social Wellbeing focused
on how Covid-19 has impacted LGBTIQ persons. The panel outlined how different
services both offered by the government and the private sector had to be halted
or adapt to the new reality. Impacts on LGBTIQ young people, trans persons,
HIV+ve persons, elderly LGBTIQ persons and LGBTIQ persons with disability were
discussed among others.