November 26, 2018
(LONDON)— GiveOut was honoured last week to welcome Malta’s Minister for European Affairs and Equality, Dr Helena Dalli, to a private dinner in London.
Minister Dalli briefed guests on Malta’s leadership on LGBTQI equality and human rights. The country was the first in Europe to ban so-called “conversion therapy”, changed the legal language used to refer to family relationships to make it gender-neutral, and legalised same-sex marriage in 2017.
“It was our pleasure to host the Minister and learn from the great progress in Malta and the role of civil society in driving change”, said GiveOut’s Executive Director, Rupert Abbott.
“Thank you so much to Minister Dalli for inspiring us, to our friends at Malta’s High Commission in London for helping to organise the event, and to GiveOut’s supporters and partners who made the evening so special.”
Malta’s Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sex Characteristics Act offers anti-discrimination protections for trans people and eases the legal gender recognition process. And in a world first, the law bans medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children.
Minister Dalli spoke of the need in Malta for a shift in focus from legal equality to societal tolerance. She praised LGBTQI charities and NGOs for their role in pushing reform.
The dinner was donated by GiveOut’s corporate sponsor Camm & Hooper and was held at their award-winning Six Storeys venue in Soho Square.
The minister also participated in a panel entitled ‘Creating Positive Change, From Outside and Within’ at the London Business School’s EUROUT conference. EUROUT is Europe’s leading LGBTQ+ conference for graduate students, sponsored by GiveOut’s founding corporate partner The Boston Consulting Group.