The ‘living saint’ who had sex nun in the 1700s… and other
Moments from Malta’s hidden LGBT+ history highlighted in new book
From a ‘living saint’ accused of having sex with a priest and a nun in the 1700s to a transgender performer who had her baptismal records altered by the Catholic Church in the 1970s, long before the legal right to change gender was possible.
These are among the stories that explore Malta’s attitude towards the LGBTIQ+ community in the first book of its kind.
Breaking the Silence – Homosexuality in Maltese History is considered important not only because it traces evolving patterns of same-sex desire in a small island-state, but especially because in doing so, it provides a “study of the mores of Maltese society, past and present, from an unorthodox standpoint”, said Konrad Buhagiar.
He edited the book, a project by Allied Rainbow Communities aimed at general readers and academics, together with James Licari.
In it, traditional and novel views on sex and gender serve as a “springboard to an understanding of the complexity of the Maltese mindset”, Buhagiar continued.
“From fear of the outsider to tolerance of diversity; from the comfort of tradition to the seduction of innovation; from pagan feasting to religious fervour,” he said the book provided, “from the vantage point of homosexuality, an intriguing insight into the ambivalent worldview of the Maltese”.
“An intriguing insight into the ambivalent world of the Maltese
Speaking of the importance of a debut publication on homosexuality in history, Buhagiar acknowledged that in most cultures, the clandestine and closeted nature of same-sex encounters and bonding has left little or no trace behind.
“Hard as one tries to discover and document the presence of homosexual love in history, one invariably comes up against an impenetrable wall of silence,” he pointed out.
But Breaking the Silence contains exhaustive research by
Giovanni Bonello, as well as little nuggets of gossip about amorous adventures, or illicit sex, many of them recorded confessions from the archives of the Inquisition.
The book moves from Neolithic representations of non-binary bodies to the opening of the first gay party venue in Xemxija.
Composed of a series of essays by different authors – from historians to archaeologists to anthropologists – the book also puts in the limelight those “invisible characters” who inhabited the margins for centuries, irrespective of their position in society.
Although most of the essays are in-depth studies of the phenomenon of homosexuality in the context of a Maltese society, they also provided glimpses of unorthodox tales.
The sTory of a pioneering Transgender
Licari’s story of pioneering transgender Brigitte Bond is “exceptionally fascinating”, according to Buhagiar.
It is the “irresistible” story of a young, timid boy from Sliema, hitting a cultural whirlwind upon reaching the metropolis.
Bond was a symbol of the overlap of two contrasting worlds: “isolated, ultra-Catholic, homophobic Malta immediately before independence, the conservative episcopate of Michael Gonzi and his efforts to come abreast with the developments advocated by Vatican Council II on the one hand,” Buhagiar explained.
“And, on the other hand, the swinging sixties in Soho, where Brigitte performed, ska music and the miniskirt, the invention of the pill and sexual revolution and the first gender reassignment operations performed by Dr Burou in Casablanca.”
Bond started life as John, nicknamed ‘is-Sissy’ on account of his effeminate ways. The minute he could leave, the transgender performer made her presence felt on London’s music scene of the 1960s, where her persona was born.
It was thanks to a photographed iconic dance move with Jamaican singer-songwriter Prince Buster that Bond caught the attention of the world in 1964, earning her the title of the ‘Queen of Bluebeat’.
In 1974 ‒ decades before the legal right to change gender was possible in Malta after 2015 ‒ the Curia changed her baptismal certificate and records from male to female, leaving Brigitte, who later married an Italian man, proud of the part she played in this milestone of the history of sexuality in Malta.
a sainT, a nun and a priesT
Much earlier in history are stories that were scarcely recorded,