MALTA PRIDE 2019 - DRACHMA PRESS RELEASE

Drachma – Gay Pride 2019

We are celebrating fifteen years from Malta’s first gay pride and the fiftieth anniversary from the Stonewall Riots that was one of the seminal moments in the history of the LGBTIQ+ movement in the world. Soon after the gay ‘Pride’ became an annual event in various countries and places around the world. Such marches constituted an attempt by the LGBTIQ+ community to have itself counted and respected. The cry then as now was quite simple: We exist. We are humans. We deserve dignity!

We may think that faith has had very little to do with the LGBTIQ+ liberation movement around the world. That is not really true. Even before the Stonewall Riots, in America, the first Catholic and Christian LGBTIQ+ groups started working for integration of faith and sexuality and striving for social justice. Dignity USA this year also celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and Drachma had the privilege of attending their anniversary celebrations last July. Over the decades, other similar groups emerged in America and Europe. 

Today, Drachma also belongs to the European Forum of Christian LGBT Groups established in the mid-1970s, and the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics (GNRC), established a few years ago as a coalition of 40 groups with thousands of Catholic LGBTIQ+ members from around the world. For another term Drachma’s representative is co-chair of GNRC and we march with the GNRC banner for a second year.

We wish other Catholics would join us in this march because we are proud of our faith, proud of our church and proud of who God made us!

Drachma has also played an important role in the local campaign for LGBTIQ rights. It is the second oldest LGBTIQ+ group in Malta and has played a very active role in the Consultative Council as Malta enacted legislation that gave LGBTIQ people rights and equality. Drachma is composed of two groups, a LGBTI+ group and a Parents Group. Together we bridge-build with the Church because we believe in dialogue with all faiths and the LGBTIQ+ community.

Drachma is a founder member of the European Network of Parents of LGBTI+ Persons and welcomes parents and friends to march with us today in solidarity with other LGBTI+ families.

Why do we celebrate Pride? We celebrate Pride and we keep on doing so, because we believe that there are still LGBTIQ persons in our families, in our neighbourhoods and in our towns that still feel emarginated and in the periphery. We need to express this hope, especially for those who cannot be with us today to celebrate our dignity and our humanity. We need to remind ourselves that more still needs to be done for everyone to feel ‘safe’, ‘loved’ and ‘proud’. 

This is our Pride. This is what we celebrate! This is our hope!