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How does Canada measure up among countries as a safe place for queer people to be? Let’s consider how Canada’s protections for the queer community compare to those of a country the head of Equality and Non-Discrimination at the UN’s Human Rights Office said in 2017 represented the “gold standard” in the field: Malta.

Malta is a small set of islands in the Mediterranean Sea, with Sicily to the north and Tunisia and Libya to the south. The established religion has been Roman Catholicism for some time, and the reforms passed by previous governments have occasionally brought them into conflict with the church establishment. Before independence, Malta was also subject to British colonial laws that made homosexuality criminal. In the last few decades, however, reformism has overcome the deep streak of traditionalism in Maltese culture and government and the island has become a noteworthy example of modern legal rights and protections for most everyone under the queer umbrella.

Travel journalists Asher and Lyric ranked Canada number one on their list of the safest places for queer travelers to visit in 2022, with Malta checking in at fourth on that list. We’ll see what makes recent reforms in both these countries so significant. But first let’s quickly have a look at the points of comparison.

• Sodomy laws: these are laws that make same-sex sexual activity criminal, and were commonly imposed by the British Crown on colonies.
• Equal age of consent: this covers whether queer sexual activity has a higher age of consent than heterosexual activity.
• Crossdressing/public gender nonconformity legal: these are sometimes called sumptuary laws, and could legally require people to wear a minimum number of garments corresponding to their gender assigned at birth. They affected queer as well as trans and otherwise gender-nonconforming people, and especially racialised people. Non-cisgender, non-heterosexual identities in Indigenous cultures in particular (e.g. Two-Spirit people) were also heavily affected by the forceful imposition of the colonial gender and sexuality binary.
• Military service: are queer people in general, and trans people in particular, allowed to serve in the military, and can they do so without being closeted? This is often an important barometer of how queer people are viewed in a country.
• Equal marriage: can same-sex couples, or any couples whose combination of legal genders is something other than M and F, get legally married?
• Equal marriage: benefits covers whether non-heterosexual marriages come with the same legal benefits as heterosexual marriages, including in family law and social services.
• Equal marriage: adoption covers whether non-heterosexual married couples have the right to adopt with the same restrictions and rules as heterosexual couples.
• Equal marriage: reproductive technologies covers whether non-heterosexual married couples have the same access to assisted reproduction that heterosexual couples have, including fertility therapies and surrogacy.
• Nondiscrimination: sexual orientation covers whether constitutional rights and human rights codes exist to protect from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation by governments and private entities, respectively.
• Nondiscrimination: gender identity covers whether constitutional rights and human rights codes exist to protect from discrimination on the grounds of gender identity/expression by governments and private entities, respectively. This goes beyond earlier conceptions of gender discrimination as sexism/misogyny to include non-cis identities and expressions as well.
• Blood donation: are queer and trans people subject to discriminatory rules for blood (or tissue) donation?
• Trans healthcare: informed consent covers whether the basics of medical transition, e.g. hormone replacement therapy, are permitted via an informed consent model or whether the patient must be evaluated by a designated medical authority and receive permission before beginning medical transition.
• Trans healthcare: coverage covers whether equipment (such as chest binders), medications, surgical procedures and other necessary elements of transition care are covered under the jurisdiction’s health insurance. This will vary a great deal between countries and between provinces/states/territories etc. within a federal country.
• Name/legal gender change requirements: this denotes whether a legal change of name or gender marker due to social transition is a simple administrative process or requires a letter from a professional e.g. a doctor.
• Intersex protections from discrimination: this denotes whether intersex people are legally protected against discrimination by governments or private entities/institutions.
• Intersex protection against nonconsensual surgical procedures: is it legal to perform “corrective” surgeries on intersex people when they are too young to consent?
• Intersex legal recognition: are intersex people legally recognised? For example, this could mean allowing a sex designation on a birth certificate other than M or F, or not using such a marker on vital documents in the first place. It generally means that institutions do not force intersex people into administrative binary sex categories.
• Hate crime legislation: is targeting queer/trans people for violence considered a specific offence, an aggravating factor in another offence, or something else?
• Ban on conversion therapy: are psychological or other techniques meant at altering someone’s sexuality or gender identity legal, banned, or in a grey area?
  

Note that both countries lag behind in some areas of protection, and neither society is free from queerphobia, discrimination or even violence. Pride should always be a reminder that these gains are fragile, and there’s still much more work to do.

Sources

Act No. LV of 2016: Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression Act. Third Reading (Parlament ta’ Malta), December 5 2016. https://www.parlament.mt/en/12th-leg/acts-12th/act-lv-of-2016/ 

ACT No. XI of 2015: Gender Identity, GenderExpression and Sex Characteristics Act, 2015. Presidential Assent (Parlament ta’ Malta), April 14, 2015. https://legislation.mt/eli/act/2015/11/eng/pdf 

Arena, J. (2019, September 13). Gay men will be allowed to donate blood as of next week. Times of Malta. https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/gay-men-will-be-allowed-to-donate-blood-as-of-next-week.735101 

Assisted Human Reproduction Act (S.C. 2004, c. 2). https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-13.4/ 

Bill C-4: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy). Royal Assent December 8 2021, 44th Parliament, 1st Session. https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-4/royal-assent 

Bill C-16: An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code. Royal Assent June 19 2017, 42nd Parliament, 2nd Session. https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-16/royal-assent 

Canadian Civil Liberties Association. (2015, May 19). Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Change of Name for Trans Persons. Talk Rights. https://ccla.org/get-informed/talk-rights/frequently-asked-questions-regarding-change-of-name-for-trans-persons/ 

Canadian Civil Liberties Association. (2015, May 19). Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Change of Sex Designation for Trans Persons. Talk Rights. https://ccla.org/get-informed/talk-rights/frequently-asked-questions-regarding-change-of-sex-designation-for-trans-persons/ 

Douglas v. Canada, [1993] 1 F.C. 264. https://web.archive.org/web/20050413142345/http://reports.fja.gc.ca/fc/1993/pub/v1/1993fca0430.html 

Fergusson, A., and Fergusson, L. (2022, May 18). The 203 Worst (& Safest) Countries for LGBTQ+ Travel in 2022. Asher and Lyric. https://www.asherfergusson.com/lgbtq-travel-safety/ 

Government of Malta. (2021). Hormone Therapy. Ministry for Health. https://deputyprimeministercms.gov.mt/en/CMO/transgender-health/Pages/transgender-care/hormone-therapy.aspx 

Government of Malta. (2021). Pathology? Ministry for Health. https://deputyprimeministercms.gov.mt/en/CMO/transgender-health/Pages/transgender-care/pathology.aspx 

Government of Malta. (2021). Surgery for Trans Men and Non-binary People Assigned Female at Birth. Ministry for Health. https://deputyprimeministercms.gov.mt/en/CMO/transgender-health/Pages/transgender-care/surgery-for-trans-men-and-non-binary-people-assigned-female-at-birth.aspx 

Government of Malta. (2021). Surgery for Trans Women and Non-binary People Assigned Male at Birth. Ministry for Health. https://deputyprimeministercms.gov.mt/en/CMO/transgender-health/Pages/transgender-care/surgery-for-trans-women-and-non-binary-people-assigned-male-at-birth.aspx 

Government of Yukon. (2021, December 3). New health care policy supports transgender community. https://yukon.ca/en/news/new-health-care-policy-supports-transgender-community 

Health Canada. (2022, April 28). Health Canada authorizes Canadian Blood Services’ submission to eliminate donor deferral period for men who have sex with men. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/news/2022/04/health-canada-authorizes-canadian-blood-services-submission-to-eliminate-donor-deferral-period-for-men-who-have-sex-with-men.html 

Hurley, M. C. (2003, September 2). Sexual Orientation and Legal Rights. Law and Government Division, Government of Canada Publications. https://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection-R/LoPBdP/CIR/921-e.htm 

Malta Independent. (2010, February 9). AFM denies discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Malta Independent. https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2010-02-09/local-news/AFM-Denies-discrimination-on-basis-of-sexual-orientation-270106 

Martin, I. (2017, September 27). Watch: Malta is the 'gold standard' of LGBT reform, says UN equality boss. Times of Malta. https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/malta-is-the-gold-standard-of-lgbt-reform-un-equality-boss.659017