12 October 2026
To: Hon. Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
Chairs and Co-Chairs of the Political Groups of the European Parliament
Hon. Maltese Members of the European Parliament
Subject: Request for correction and right of reply: The Hate Review (Life Network Foundation Malta)
Madam President,
Honorable Group Chairs,
Honorable Maltese MEPs,
I write on behalf of Life Network Foundation Malta, which is named in The Hate Review: How the Anti-Gender Movement Spread Across Europe, 2000–2025, published by Forbidden Colours. The report is being launched today at 14:00 in the European Parliament (Spinelli 3H1), hosted by MEP Marc Angel. We write in a spirit of dialogue, to express serious concerns about the report, its methodology and rhetoric and its use of Parliament’s premises to launch it.
Who we are
Life Network Foundation Malta is a faith-based NGO inspired by a Catholic ethic of life. Through our maternity support unit, our education programmes and our advocacy, we support mothers, families and children.
Our work is for every person who needs support. We have accompanied clients from many different backgrounds, including same-sex couples. One such couple came to us during a crisis pregnancy and has spoken publicly, in their own words, about the help they received from us free of any bias: https://www.facebook.com/lifenetworkeu/videos/294503995498872/
Our organisation in the report
The report lists Life Network Foundation among the “anti-gender organisations and networks” in Malta and describes us as “the most institutionally developed actor” in that field. It refers to our annual March for Life, our crisis pregnancy support service and our membership of the One of Us European Federation, and it presents our lawful petitions, public statements and court action as evidence of an “anti-gender movement”.
We reject this characterization. Our positions concern the protection of life and the dignity of every human person. They are not directed against any person or group. Peaceful marches, petitions, submissions to Parliament and recourse to the courts are the ordinary tools of democratic participation, and they are protected rights.
Several of the founding fathers of the European project, among them Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer and Alcide De Gasperi, were Catholics, and the European project has deep Christian roots. I hope and pray that being Catholic has not become a ground for exclusion at the European Parliament today.
Use of hateful rhetoric
We are also deeply concerned by the report’s rhetoric. It describes the organisations it names in terms of a “viral load” and “a chronic infection that never clears”, and it states that its aim is “the decontamination of Europe” through “the patient dismantling” of these actors.
Whatever one thinks of our positions, describing lawful citizens’ associations in terms of disease and elimination is dehumanizing language at its best. It has no place in democratic debate, and certainly not under the roof of a European institution.
Treaty values presented as “hate”
The convictions that this report treats as a threat are protected by the founding texts of the Union. Article 2 TEU is built on human dignity, freedom, pluralism and respect for human rights. The Charter of Fundamental Rights protects human dignity (Article 1), the right to life (Article 2), freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 10), freedom of expression and of association (Articles 11 and 12) and the protection of the family (Article 33), and it prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, belief or political opinion (Article 21). Article 11 TEU and Article 17 TFEU commit the institutions to open and regular dialogue with civil society and with churches.
Disagreement is not hatred, and the answer to disagreement is debate, not “decontamination”.
Our request
Hosting this launch in the European Parliament risks giving the report an authority it has not earned, particularly as none of the organisations it names appears to have been invited to respond. We therefore respectfully ask:
1. that the President of the European Parliament make clear publicly that this event is not endorsed by the Parliament, and that the Parliament does not share the report’s language or conclusions;
2. that the political group leaders reaffirm the Parliament’s commitment to pluralism and to dialogue with all lawful civil-society voices;
3. that Life Network Foundation Malta, and the other organisations named, be given a right of reply, and that future events on these topics include the organisations concerned.
We hold our convictions openly, and we defend them lawfully and within democratic debate and remain open to respectful dialogue.
Yours sincerely,
M. Sciberras
CEO, Life Network Foundation Malta
