Gabi Calleja

She read for a Master's in Youth and Community Studies at the University of Malta.^[2] She is gay.^[3]

By 2010, Calleja was the coordinator of the Malta Gay Rights Movement.^[3] In this role, Calleja's work included presenting reports on LGBTQ discrimination to the Social Affairs Committee of the Maltese Parliament.^[3] In 2015, she was appointed chairperson of the LGBTI Consultative Council.^[4] By 2023, Calleja was the head of the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Unit (SOGIGESC).^[5]

Within Malta, Calleja has fought for issues such as recognition of same-sex marriage,^[3][6] the legalization of same-sex adoption,^[3] the rights of gender-nonconforming and trans students,^[7] and equal access to IVF.^[8] She has called for the banning of conversion therapy^[5] and the repeal of a ban preventing gay men from donating blood.^[9]

By 2013, she was co-chair of the executive board of ILGA Europe, a lesbian and gay advocacy group.^[10] In 2014, she spoke publicly in favor of Denmark removing a law which had required transgender people to undergo sterilization before they were legally allowed to change their gender.^[11]

In addition to her work on LGBTQ rights, she is also a senior executive in the public sector in Malta, and has worked in the fields of teaching, drug prevention, training, community development, fundraising, and project management.^[2] In 2005, the “School Attendance Improvement” Report, a review of absenteeism from school in Malta, was published; she had been part of the group appointed to write it.^[2]