ADPD Candidates Call Out PN’s Julie Zahra For Raising Concerns About Gender Fluidity Children’s Play
Two ADPD European Parliament candidates have called out PN MP Julie Zahra after she raised concern over an upcoming ŻiguŻajg performance and workshop about gender fluidity specifically targeted at children aged between eight and ten.
“While Zahra’s comments might seem harmless on the surface, when we read between the lines we can note a number of red herrings that mimick the anti-gender playbook being used across the world,” ADPD deputy leader Sandra Gauci said.
“Principle amongst them is that ‘sociologists, anthropologists, sexologists, and psychologists’ are the experts on gender, including trans identities, and not trans people themselves.”
“As a cis woman I am the boss of my own gender, and I know that my colleague Mina Jack Tolu is a boss of theirs too, so I asked them for a comment.”
Tolu, an experienced non-binary LGBT+ activist, said they knew “it wouldn’t be long for the anti-gender messages to rear their heads in the PN”.
“Comments like these are divisive and disrespectful to us, the trans community, our collective knowledge and identities,” they said. “If this show has existed when I was 8, I might have grown up in a world where I did not have to hide who I was, and where I did not have to isolate myself from those closest to me, including my twin sibling.”
“If I had watched a show with this premise when I was younger I would have known that there is nothing wrong with being a gender non conforming, non binary, trans, or queer child.”
They recounted how they concluded a European Ideas Lab panel in Warsaw on Friday in Warsaw by reflecting on how “politics of hate aim to divide and isolate us from one another”.
“Julie Zahra’s comment does just that by telling children who are trans and non-binary in Malta that their identities are not valid,” Tolu said. “By telling our families that their children are not welcome in society. As Greens we need continue to work for a society where everyone is welcome.”
ŻiguŻajg, a government programme of artistic events aimed at children and families, will this month put on Gender Boss, described as a “multidisciplinary production aimed at teaching kids about gender fluidity” and “entertaining the idea that gender is playful and malleable, not chosen for you but by you.”
Produced by Martina Buhagiar and featuring Martina Georgina and Romeo Roxmann Gatt as the lead artists, it is set to put on five performances – twice for schools and three times for the general public.
Zahra said that while she hasn’t read a copy of the script, the way the performance is being described on ŻiguŻajg’s official website raises a number of concerns.
“If it means what we think it means, which sociologists, anthropologists, sexologists, psychologists and other experts were consulted for advice before their subject reaches these children with open minds in the way it is being promoted?” she questioned.
“While we are in favour of free expression, creativity, arts, gender and personal liberty, we are also in favour of everything taking place in the right time and place and, when it comes to sensitive subjects, through consultation with experts. If it is designed wrongly, it can have an opposite effect on children of such a young age.”
Cover photo: From left: ADPD candidate Mina Tolu, PN MP Julie Zahra, ADPD candidate Sandra Gauci
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