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The Socialist Party has withdrawn from gender inclusiveness and has submitted 22 amendments to the Gender Equality Bill. The bill specifies only 2 genders, 'man and woman', which will be voted on in Parliament on October 30.
With the signature of the leader of the socialist parliamentary group, Taulant Balla, no fewer than 22 amendments have been proposed to the draft of the Ministry of Health to put back on track what the proposer describes as the loss of the classical concept in Albanian society, where there are two genders, male and female.
The amendments begin in the first article of the government's draft, which had envisaged that this law would regulate fundamental issues of gender equality in all areas of public and private life to achieve gender equality and equal treatment, regardless of gender.
In the version signed by Taulant Balla, the words "regardless of gender" have been removed, replacing them with "as well as equal treatment between women and men".
The report attached to the draft law states that the phrases "gender affiliation" or "multiple affiliation" are intended to include in gender all individuals who, due to sexual diversity, do not consider themselves to be in either the male or female gender.
"These definitions aim to include in gender all individuals who, due to diversity or multiple affiliation or sexual diversity, do not consider themselves to be in either gender, man or woman. Albanian society conceives of gender as divided into a binary conception of man and woman and this concept is also included in all legislation in force, which regulates individual rights, against discrimination, the Family Code, the Labor Code and the Civil Servant Law, etc. The introduction of these aforementioned concepts in the draft law affects its non-harmonization with the legislation in force, which accepts the binary concept of "man and woman"", the report states.
Taulant Balla has also given an answer to those who use the argument that society should have more than two genders because this is also a European legal practice.
According to the socialist MP, the EU Court of Justice, which protects transgender people from discrimination, relies on the interpretation of discrimination based on gender, not on the recognition of a third gender.
"Current EU legislation on gender equality (such as Directive 2006/54/EC and other directives, which are intended to be approximated through this draft law) do not provide for a "third gender" or other categories beyond the man-woman binary," the report states.
In the 3-page document of the leader of the SP group, the term "multiple affiliation" of the government draft has been deleted in 15 cases where it was used, thus confirming the position that in Albania, even after the approval of this law, only two genders will be officially recognized, male and female.
We recall that the religious communities in the country, the Muslim Church of Albania, the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, the Bektashi World Patriarchate, and the Evangelical Brotherhood, came together to analyze several articles and definitions of the draft that, according to them, conflict with theological principles and tradition of the Albanian family.
According to religious communities, this terminology for defining gender, or the use of notions such as "gender identity" and "gender expression", creates legal ambiguity and room for misinterpretation.
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