[WATCH] Colours and costumes bring Valletta to life as Malta celebrates pride week

Hundreds celebrate Gay Pride in Valletta • Video by Chris Mangion

It’s a feast of glitter, colours and costumes in Valletta as Malta's gay community celebrates pride week.

In the first of a series of activities today, citizens gathered in Valletta to mark gay pride and calling for “full equality”.

Led down Republic Street by two burly men on motorcycles, both sporting handlebar moustaches, the march was a celebration of identity.

Rainbow flags, rainbow balloons and floats bedecked with pride-related symbols followed, as did a similarly decorated double decker bus.


A crowd of around 300 people accompanied the floats, waving banners bearing various slogans. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli, AD chairman Arnold Cassola and PN MP Claudette Buttigieg were also in attendance.

Also present were Moviment Graffitti, who highlighted the importance of working for an inclusive society, free from oppression.

The pressure group argued for increased education to reduce discrimination.“Over the past years, our country has seen positive and important changes with regards to laws that have a direct impact on LGBTIQ persons. However, many are increasingly feeling the urgent need for more real and practical changes in society. LGBTIQ persons still face different forms of discrimination in everyday life – within the family, at school, at work, during entertainment activities, etc.

"These realities can be partly addressed through an education which, starting from an early age, gives more visibility to LGBTIQ and works for a society where persons with a sexual orientation and a gender identity that is different from that of  the majority are seen as a normal and essential component of the different shades that exist among us.”

Graffitti urged the Maltese government to provide the necessary resources for the functioning of the planned Gender Clinic, which it described as “pivotal for the wellbeing of trans persons, especially for those who do not have the financial means to access the costly services of private clinics.”

“Working for equality for LGBTIQ persons entails fighting all forms of discrimination and inequality. LGBTIQ persons have also other identities linked to their social class, culture, sex and religion, amongst others. LGBTIQ persons who are part of groups that are facing discrimination and inequality often experience double discrimination, making it harder from them to express their sexual  orientation and gender identity. Moreover, it is of concern that far-right groups  and ideologies in Europe are growing, constituting a direct threat to the rights and lives of LGBTIQ persons.”