By Tim Waggoner
VALLETTA, Malta, October 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Maltese man who has undergone “gender reassignment surgery” is taking Maltese authorities to court in an attempt to force them to issue him and his partner marriage banns.
The homosexual news source, Pink News, reports that Joanne Cassar is claiming his fundamental human rights are being compromised by the Public Registry’s decision not to allow the two men to “marry.”
In 2007, shortly after Cassar obtained the court order instructing the Public Registry to change his name from Joseph to Joanne and his gender from male to female on his birth certificate, Cassar also obtained another court order instructing Public Registry director Anthony Geraldi to issue the marriage banns.
Geraldi, however, went to the appeals court which overturned the original court ruling, upholding the director’s claim that Cassar’s birth certificate changes were only permitted to protect his privacy and that his surgery was cosmetic.
Given this ruling and the fact that homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” are illegal in Malta, Cassar was denied the marriage banns.
Despite the court’s decision, Cassar still feels his fundamental human rights have been breached and is going to court again over the matter. According to di-ve.com, Cassar claims he has been subjected to inhumane treatment because of Malta’s lack of laws addressing the “right” of a “new sex” to “marry.”
While Malta is the smallest country in the EU in terms of both population and land size, it has continually and vigorously defied pressure from the EU and other homosexualist groups in favor of upholding its strong Roman Catholic values and tradition.