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...
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