A Spade is a Spade is a Spade

The story of the 16 year old lesbian, who earlier this month was attacked by two boys in a Hamrun square, caused public uproar… and rightly so.

When the story broke, it was reported that the attack happened on a bench, and that the police had identified and spoken to the alleged ‘thugs’. At the time it wasn’t yet known whether they had pressed charges against them, or if they intended to.

It was later reported that criminal charges had in fact been pressed even before the story was leaked to the media. How the victim and her family didn’t know about this important piece of information before going to the press is mind boggling, but since I’ve long given up hope of understanding how the police and our justice system work, my gripe on the matter revolves on how the media reported the incident. 

Most editors felt it necessary to highlight the victim’s sexuality in their headlines, which resulted in titles and captions which read – THUGS ATTACK LESBIAN, 16, ON A BENCH / BROTHERS TO BE CHARGED OVER ASSAULT ON LESBIANS / TWO TEENAGERS TO BE CHARGED WITH ATTACKING LESBIANS, and CHURCH COMMISSION CONDEMNS ATTACK ON LESBIANS.

But some people argued that this was unethical and that the victim’s sexuality should only have been mentioned in the body article, not the headline.

Maybe I’m losing my ethical and moral marbles but I think that a big part of an editor’s job is to highlight the most important aspects of a story and if possible include them in the headline in order to grab the readers’ attention.

The fact that the girl was attacked because of her sexuality makes being a lesbian an intrinsic part of the story; not including it in the headline would have resulted in a disservice to the readers and done a bad job in attracting justified attention to the incident.

Even international gay-aware publications such as Xtra - Canada’s leading portal for gay and lesbian news- reported the incident with the headline Malta: Call for legislation after lesbians attacked.

Pinknews.co.uk – which is dubbed Europe’s largest gay new service - used the headline Malta: Lesbian attack prompts call for hate crime law.

The International LGBTQ Youth & Student Organisation used the headline – IGLYO Supports Young Maltese Lesbians, Attacked Jan 13th.

So whilst I understand that some details like ‘on a bench’ and ‘by thugs’ might not have been so important, (if not downright irrelevant),  the use of the word ‘lesbian,’ in this case, was not used to sensationalize the story, but formed an intrinsic part of what happened and why.  In short, if I were an editor, I too would have included it in the headline.

The real issue is that most people think that the word ‘lesbian’ is offensive, and that even if they are, people should not be called so. The sad truth is that it’s only offensive if you think that there is something wrong with being one.

Despite the crude connotations, the word lesbian, is just another descriptor, and as far as I’m concerned is as offensive as being called ‘left handed’ or ‘blonde’.

It is by far more offensive not to be represented in important issues, like the law and advertising, rather than being called a spade (especially if you are one).

Maltese law still doesn’t include hate crime on the basis of sexual orientation, same sex relationships are in no way legally recognised, and according to the latest safe sex campaign, it seems that homosexuals are fully educated and need no reminders because, it portrays three sexual scenarios and three ways to ensure safe sexual relations but not to cause anyone a coronary, the campaigners stuck to the heterosexual situation… three times over!!

So whilst the world comes to terms with calling a spade a spade and with spades not getting offended, let’s focus on what really matters shall we?

The Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM) together with a number of other NGOs
will be holding a peaceful demonstration tomorrow, Thursday 26th Jan, at 7.30pm at Hamrun Square (Pjazza San Pawl).

The aim of the demonstration is to protest against all forms of hate crime and to ask the government to extend the current hate crime legislation to include other potentially vulnerable groups.

Please bring along candles and feel free to make placards!

Please pass on the word!

Let's stop the Hate! We have a right to feel safe!