Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Malta rank among the highest in the world. Throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the rights of the LGBTQ community received more awareness and same-sex sexual activity was legalized on 29 January 1973. The prohibition was already dormant by the 1890s.
According to the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), Malta has been recognised for providing a high degree of liberty to its LGBT citizens. Since October 2015, ILGA-Europe has ranked Malta first in terms of LGBT rights legislation out of 49 observed European countries, a ranking it has upheld ever since, as of 2025. Malta is one of the few countries in the world to have made LGBT rights equal at a constitutional level.Malta among just five countries which give LGBT people equal constitutional rights, The Times of Malta In 2016, Malta became the first country in the European Union to ban conversion therapy. In late 2020, Malta joined the UN LGBTI Core Group, an international platform for the protection of LGBT people from violence and discrimination.
Out magazine has declared Malta as being among the best European countries in terms of LGBT rights. According to the United States Department of State, Malta is a safe environment for foreign LGBT travellers, and according to the LGBT+ Danger Index Malta is the tenth safest country in the world for LGBT people. French agency Expert Market ranks Malta as the seventh best European destination for foreign LGBT workers. A 2019 opinion poll from the Eurobarometer series indicated that 67% of Maltese supported same-sex marriage, a significant increase over a decade, and 73% believed gay, lesbian and bisexual people should enjoy the same rights as heterosexual people.
Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression has been banned nationwide since 2004. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people have been allowed to serve openly in the military since 2002. Transgender and intersex rights in Malta are of the highest standard in the world under the Gender Identity, Gender Expression And Sex Characteristics Act, which permits transgender people to change their legal gender without medical interventions and bans surgeries on intersex infants. Same-sex marriage has been legal since 1 September 2017, and prior to that civil unions were enacted in April 2014.
LGBT history in Malta
Order of St. John During the rule of the Order of St John, sodomy was considered a common enough occurrence among members of the Military Order in Malta, but was associated with Italians or Muslims. It was also common preference for men attracted to men (including knights who had taken vows of celibacy) to look for sex with younger looking men, effeminate men, or to be drawn towards pederasty.
However, conditions hardened into the 17th century as the reforms of the Catholic Counter Reformation rippled out, and there was an increase in prejudice and laws against those involved in homosexual behaviour. The Scottish voyager and author William Lithgow, writing in 1616, reported that a Spanish soldier and a Maltese teenage boy were publicly "burnt to ashes" for confessing to have had sex together. As a consequence, and for fear of a similar outcome, it was reported that at least a hundred men (possibly involved in prostitution) subsequently fled to Sicily the following day. Buttigieg argues that this indicated that while homosexuality was taboo, it was nevertheless widespread enough and discretely tolerated.
An uncommon case, heard at the Castellania in 1774, involved an intersex person, 17-year-old Rosa Mifsud from Luqa, who petitioned for a sex change by dressing as a man. Two medical experts were appointed by the court to perform an examination. - the physician-in-chief and a senior surgeon, both working at the Sacra Infermeria. Mifsud had petitioned the Grandmaster to be recognized as a male, and it was the Grandmaster himself who took the final decision for Mifsud to wear only men's clothes from then on.
British period As a British colony, Malta adopted the Penal Code of Great Britain which criminalised homosexual relations between men. There are examples of individuals caught out by the law, and include a lawyer, Guglielmo Rapinett, who was elected to the Council of Government and served as Professor of Law at the University of Malta. In 1884 he was arrested for "lewd behaviour" while allegedly trying to seduce a British soldier. Nevertheless, the Bishop of Malta personally petitioned for his release.
The politician Joseph Flores, who served during the 1950s as Deputy Leader for the Maltese Labour Party, was thought to have had a relationship with the author Herbert Ganado during their study at university in the 1920s, and they were reportedly fond of dressing in drag.Joseph Chetcuti in "Who's who in Gay and Lesbian History, Ed Aldrich and Wotherspoon, London, 2000Queer Mediterranean Memories, Joseph Carmel Chetcuti, Australia, 2010
Homosexuality in the military was considered to be a "serious crime". Those in the military who were under investigation for homosexuality would be dismissed with immediate effect and prosecuted by a court-martial. An especially prominent case was that of the British Sub-Lieutenant, Christopher Swabey, who was court-martialed and dismissed from post in 1956; although this was later over-turned by the House of Lords.
Because gay relationships lacked official recognition, gay men sometimes had to be pragmatic to ensure some legal or inheritance rights. For example, John Baptist Francia (1893–1974) legally adopted William Nathaniel Fenton in 1960 (Fenton was thirty years younger). The romantic relationship between the two men was a relatively open secret. In 1971 legislation was passed that permitted Fenton to inherit Baptist's Villa Francia estate in Lija upon his death. During their time together the two organized gay social events and parties at the villa. At Fenton's death the Villa passed to the State and is today the official residence for the Prime Minister of Malta.
Independent Malta
Malta became independent in 1964 and at this point Malta was comparably still traditional in terms of the sexual revolution and progression in Europe. Only in 1973 did the Labour Government decide to change Malta's laws to match those of Western Europe and decriminalise homosexuality.
MGRM, formerly known as the Malta Gay Rights Movement (), is a socio-political non-governmental organisation founded in 2001 to focus on the challenges and rights of the Maltese LGBT community. In February 2008, MGRM organised and presented a petition to Parliament asking for a range of measures to be introduced to protect LGBT people through the law. The petition was signed by more than 1,000 people and asked for legal recognition of same-sex couples, an anti-homophobic bullying strategy for the island nation's schools and new laws targeting homophobic and transphobic crimes. The petition received the backing of Alternattiva Demokratika. Party chairman Harry Vassallo said that the recognition of gay rights would be a step forward.
In 2004, the Government introduced a ban on anti-gay discrimination in employment. In October 2009, George Abela, the President of Malta, met with the board of ILGA-Europe at the presidential palace as the group prepared to open its 13th annual conference in Malta. Abela agreed that information and education were important in tackling discrimination and fostering acceptance of differences and that Malta has seen progress in LGBT acceptance. He was said that "love is the most important thing there is and it can't be 'graded' based on sexual orientation". It was the first time a head of state met with ILGA-Europe members during one of the group's annual conferences.
Legality of same-sex sexual activity Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in Malta since January 1973. The Prime Minister of Malta, Dom Mintoff, and the Labour Party legislated for the removal of the British-introduced sodomy law, at the time opposed by the Roman Catholic Church in Malta and the Maltese Nationalist Party. Mikiel Gonzi, Archbishop of Malta, remained staunchly opposed to decriminalization. He complained that homosexuality was both a grave sin and "unnatural", and furthermore said it was practiced by the "sick". The age of consent is equal regardless of sexual orientation or gender at 16 years of age.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Same-sex couples in Malta have the right to marry or form a civil union. The latter provides couples with exactly the same legal rights and responsibilities as a marriage, including the right to jointly adopt children.
On 28 March 2010, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced that the Government of Malta was working on a bill to regulate cohabitation for opposite-sex and same-sex couples, hoping the bill would be completed by the end of the year. On 11 July, Gonzi confirmed that the bill would be presented in Parliament by the end of 2010. The draft bill was presented by the Minister of Justice on 28 August 2012 and was under consultation process until 30 September. The bill was introduced, but died in December 2012 due to the fall of the government and dissolution of Parliament.
Following a campaign promise during the 2013 elections, the Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs, and Civil Liberties of the newly elected Labour Government announced that it was entering consultations for a bill granting civil unions to same-sex couples, with the bill presented in Parliament on 30 September 2013. The civil union bill, which would give same-sex couples rights equivalent to marriage, including the legal right to adopt children jointly, under the legal name civil union rather than marriage, was debated in October 2013, and approved at the third reading on 14 April 2014. President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca signed it into law on 16 April 2014.
In March 2016, Prime Minister of Malta and leader of the governing Labour Party Joseph Muscat stated at an International Women's Day event he was personally in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in the country and that it was "time for a national debate" on the issue. Opposition Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil responded by stating that though Muscat was attempting to use the issue of same-sex marriage to distract from a government scandal, he could foresee no difficulty in amending Malta's civil union legislation to legalise same-sex marriage. The country's leading gay rights organisation subsequently called for a bill to be put forward opening up marriage to all couples irrespective of gender without delay.
Following the June 2017 snap elections, the Labour Government presented a bill amending Maltese marriage law to Parliament. It would give equal rights to same-sex and opposite-sex couples. The bill was introduced on 24 June and passed the Parliament on 12 July, in a 66–1 vote. The law replaced all gender-specific references in Maltese law with gender-neutral terminology. The bill was signed into law by President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and went into effect on 1 September 2017.
Adoption and parenting Maltese law grants adoption rights to married couples, civil partners and single persons, including single LGBT individuals. The first official adoption by a same-sex couple took place on 13 July 2016.Anon (15 July 2016). Malta’s first child adopted by a gay couple; parents appeal the public to educate others. The Malta Independent. Retrieved on 8 August 2016. The child had previously been turned down by over 50 couples due to the fact he has Down syndrome. By February 2018, there had been three adoptions by same-sex couples in Malta.Government ‘began communication’ with US, Brazil, Mexico for child adoption by same-sex couples, The Malta Independent, 18 June 2018