Another week, another divisive issue to keep our insatiable penchant for bickering on a never-ending roll. This week’s controversy is all about the launch of the #ALLWELCOME Campaign by the MEAE and its urging of the business community “to sign up to the Campaign and to strive towards a business environment that is respectful of its LGBTIQ workforce, clients and business partners.” In theory I believe that this is quite a commendable initiative, but somehow along the way its planned execution seems to have gone awry. Take the blessed #ALLWELCOME sticker for a start…

To demonstrate their LGBTIQ credentials, businesses and organisations are not only required to put in place practices and/or policies to ensure that human rights are respected but to also train and upskill their staff to reflect this stance. All well and good, as some businesses really do need to up the ante where staff behaviour is concerned, and not only in relation to the gay community. I could write down a whole list of offences perpetrated by employees within the services industries every single day, but this would need much more than a single opinion piece.

But anyway, just a teensy reminder… Indifference, arrogance, shaming or just plain ignorance is something all of us encounter on a regular basis. If only for this reason, I cannot fathom the relevance of singling out the LGBTIQ community, sticking a pathetic label on a door indicating that the venue/outlet in question has signed up to be gay-friendly or not. Why highlight the difference where supposedly none exists? Why are we fostering inclusion then treat a whole sector of society with the proverbial kid gloves? Why the special treatment? By the way, is there not a law, also enacted just a few short years ago, stating that it is actually illegal for a business to refuse one’s custom on the grounds of sexual orientation?

Some proponents of this initiative argue that despite the enacted law, the reality is very different on the ground, a fact which could very well be true. Intolerance is something which the gay community still encounters in this day and age, however, I still fail to see how a sticker affixed to a door will redress this situation. Will the ‘training’ mentioned above, as well as the ensuing sticker, ‘cure’ staff of any homophobic tendencies? I don’t think so, but perhaps that’s just me.

That said, I am a white, heterosexual female, a fact which does not really qualify me as the best candidate to argue this particular case. However, as an outsider looking in, this whole feel-good, LGBTIQ-positive crusade reeks of complete bullshit, a sanctimonious marketing tactic, making ‘inclusion’ the fetish du jour that’s being conveniently bandied about by businesses, who think that sticking this logo on their shop window should attract one of the wealthiest demographics around… Again, perhaps that’s just me (or my cynicism) …

In my mind, this whole differentiating shebang simply points out to the sad fact that even at the highest level, subconsciously we are still at a stage where we think that the LGBTIQ community should be tolerated, as opposed to being fully accepted within society, no questions asked. I might also be monumentally naïve to believe that ‘respect for all’ regardless of gender, orientation, race, religion or ability, should be a policy entrenched within each and every company’s mission statement and employees who deviate from this in any way, shape or form are sacked on the spot. Though again, don’t we have a law which covers this?

Advocates for this campaign also reiterate that this will benefit pink tourism, claiming that gay tourists might not have enough information on where Malta stands on the gay barometer, or perhaps these might hail from countries where they are usually discriminated against and therefore with this ‘badge of honour’ paraded on shop fronts, they are made to feel welcomed and safe. Don’t know about you, but if I had to visit a country wherein, I had to look for a sticker which states that I, a middle-aged, straight, overweight, white female am welcomed, I would be on the next plane home, pronto! I would reason that since these people bothered with providing ‘safe’ spaces for people of my ilk, then by extension, everywhere else is not. So, I think that this kind of mindset is at the very least counter-productive in the long run. And while we’re at it, I have yet to come across a complaint by a gay tourist citing intolerance or discrimination in our country, so…

It has been said that you have to be gay to understand the significance of such a campaign and its value in championing of the gay cause. Fair enough, because though from where I’m standing, I see this only as a flatulent exercise in grandstanding and nothing more, I am not gay by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, there are people who are homophobic by their very nature, people who will always abhor anyone who’s different to them, anyone who does not fit their perception of ‘normal’, but no amount of education will change that, in much the same way that there are racists, people who fat-shame, people who are ageist… shall we put up a sticker for all of these? Don’t think it will stop the prejudice, the intolerance or the sheer abhorrence which thankfully are traits which are only intrinsic to a very tiny minority. Then again, if a sticker floats your LGBTIQ boat, as a middle-aged, straight, white female, who am I, to say otherwise?