most of the waiters in the trendy restaurants of the City are not Maltese, sooo …
What are we shaving? Former X-Factor singer Lucy Spraggan and her partner ended their holiday in Malta after being sent through a barrage of homophobic comments and misleading interactions with passers-by and service workers.
Why are we peeling it off? Because it’s just the kind of conflict between perception and reality that this column succeeds on, like a vampire reeling for the next murder.
Vampire? What are you talking about? Flourish to effect – would you rather collapse into the depressing muck of this episode right away?
Yes, I would rather face discomfort as soon as possible so that we can get through it so quickly. Had it been so easy … in fact, believing that the mere act of penciling in an ideological safeguard on our government’s promotion mechanism is enough to ensure extensive change in itself is also the the root of what we are talking about.
I’m gonna need you to back up and get a bit factual (and lucid). Okay, so Lucy Spraggan – the British singer and songwriter who rose to fame following her instinct on X-Factor in 2021 – took a trip to Malta with her girlfriend earlier this week, just to returned after “2.5” days as a result of the gross and homophobic treatment they received at random from passers-by and waiters.
Very embarrassing. But is it implying that it has wider ramifications? Contrary to what Equality Minister Owen Bonnici wants us to think of in his follow-up comments on Spraggan on Instagram, such incidents can never be reasonably understood to occur in a total socio-cultural vacuum.
I’m not completely convinced. There are donkeys everywhere. Spraggan is still unlucky. You can choose to cultivate that intake if you like. But on the singer’s own admission, part of her reason for choosing Malta in the first place was her supposedly sterling reputation as a progressive place that loves LGBTIQ.
Yes, but even the most progressive place in the world will have a few bad apples … The kind of bad apple that will emerge with such vulgar vehemence in the span of a two-day stay? That’s a pretty intense coincidence out there, friend.
Good, but it doesn’t change the fact that there is no direct mandate for Malta not to be in favor of LGBITQ … It may not be there, but that’s just it: if you cherish yourself as the ‘best destination’ for LGBTIQ tourists, you want to be able to support this quite extensively.
But there is so much politics they can do about the daily interactions of people on the streets … Well if they intend to ride on the coat-tail of any residual factor of good feeling that they have managed to shake up the LGBTIQ community as a result of policy tweaking and other symbolic gestures, they will all have to work harder to come up with creative ones. solutions to implement significant and society-wide change.
So I dug a little deeper and I see that one of the incendiary comments was made by a waiter of the City … Yes, u?
Also, most of the waiters in the trendy restaurants of Valletta are not Maltese, so … What changes? They live and work in Malta, so they are very likely to increase precisely this type of reputation risk for the island.
So what do you suggest? Also, the implementation of initiatives such as the MGRM’s suggested ‘Welcome to All’ initiative will be a start.
What was that? Sticker awarded upon completion of a successful LGBTIQ sensitivity training session for staff.
Not an unreasonable proposal, considering everything. Well, got laughed out of the room. Because apparently, equality is achieved by magic and we are all wizards now.
Tell: “Let’s make unfortunate allowances for once, for sure. But raising the bar has its consequences, and a small slip-up can make you look like a hypocrite.
Don’t say: “We must maintain Malta’s reputation as a progressive nation of the highest level at all costs. I suggest a totalitarian ban on every free word that criticizes said reputation. Yes. That will do it. ”