ABBA Vs ADPD Heats Up As Far Right Party Files For Libel After Play Intimidation Claims
Staunchly conservative party ABBA has sued ADPD over claims that ABBA members intimidated parents and children at a showing of Gender Boss, a play about gender exploration.
However, ADPD have yet to officially receive any court notice.
ABBA party leader Ivan Grech Mintoff accused the green party ADPD of “sinking to a new low” and that their claims are “simply unacceptable”.
He went on to say his party was fighting “in full war against the grave lie that there are more than two genders”.
The party has been described as a “far-right” and Christian right political party on its Wikipedia page.
ADPD, Grech Mintoff added, is promoting “dreadful abortion, euthanasia, the repulsive gender indoctrination of our children” and pledged to oppose them in any manner possible.
“We are not afraid of any attempts of intimidation. On the contrary, it strengthens our resolve to fight back against this madness. They must now face the consequences of their irresponsible words and their dangerous attitude,” the party leader told Lovin Malta.
The play Gender Boss has been caught in the crossfire of ideology.
It targeted eight to 10-year-olds and explored the idea of gender in a playful and artistic context, encouraging the audience to imagine a world where they are whoever they wanted to be.
“What we mean by gender diversity is that people experience gender over a spectrum. We wanted to go beyond the conventional binary narrative where pink and dolls are for girls and blue and cars are for boys,” Romeo Roxman Gatt and Martina Georgina wrote in reflection.
The play first sparked criticism from Nationalist MP and culture spokesperson Julie Zahra, who questioned the “involvement of experts” in the development of the performance.
Despite concerns, the Żigużajg festival, a government program of artistic events for children and families, continued with the production of Gender Boss. The play featured five performances, two for schools and three for the general public.
Then, ADPD candidate Mina Jack Tolu flagged an incident whilst watching the play on 18th March, saying that children were being intimidated by members of ABBA Party, which forced the venue, Spazju Kreattiv, to amp up the presence of security.
Children’s Commissioner Antoinette Vassallo had asked police to investigate the case.
Lovin Malta reached out to ADPD’s Mina Jack Tolu upon the news, saying that they found out about the libel case from the media and have not received any official documents.
What do you think of ABBA’s libel case?
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