Wednesday 1 February 2012

Malta Star: Editorial: Hating LGBT persons totally unacceptable

http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=19466
23 January 2012 05:33

On 13 January 2012 at 7.30pm while with her friend in Hamrun Square a 16 year old lesbian was attacked by three boys for being gay and had then to be treated for a fractured nose and other injuries after they hit her and dragged her by her hair.

The incident was reported to the police who spoke to the three boys but as far as is known no arrests were made and no action seems to have been taken against the boys.

The bullying, the hate, the violence that still goes on in our society in families, in schools, at the work place and places of entertainment against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and rtans gender (LGBT) persons is totally unacceptable.

Most of this violence against LGBT persons goes largely unreported and as it is hidden from public eye, is not at all high on the national agenda.

LGBT people are still persecuted in our society and some of them are even driven to suicide.

NGOs Malta Gay Rights Movement, aditus, we are and Drachma Parents’ Group are right to call for a change in hate crime legislation to include the grounds of homophobia and transphobia.

A society that does not embrace diversity and still discriminates and excludes persons within it is neither just nor democratic. A state that does not give full human rights and does not treat equally its citizens irrespective of their sexual orientation is sending out the dangerous message that they are inferior and should be treated as such.

The state should lead by example and change all the necessary laws to give LGBT persons the full human rights enjoyed by the rest of society.

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