Erm, except being a lesbian isn’t a negative thing unlike being a prick. If I was attacked because I was Jewish I would have no problem with a headline saying Jewish man attacked. Lesbian is simply another way of saying a gay woman, you would only think its crude for her to be referred to as a lesbian if you felt lesbian carries negative connotations.

[Daphne – I do not think ‘lesbian’ is crude. I am merely pointing out that she is a young woman, not a ‘lesbian’.]

Lol. It says a lot about one’s cultural dispositions, doesn’t it? Here’s a translation into Maltese English for your benefit: “Thank God, at least I’m not dead, ta?”

Sexuality CAN be a choice for some. But it is still a private thing that is nobody else’s business.

So by using it in a headline you are hitting two birds with one stone, you are saying that she is a woman and that she is homosexual and that the attack was linked to her homosexuality – which in fact it was.

This is different from the Arab mugs jogger title which gives no information on the mugger, we don’t know if it is a man or woman and Arab is a very generic term.

When you answered Matthew Vella, it made your point a bit clearer however referring to a person as prick is derogatory.

I’m saying this because i feel that sometimes we go overboard. in the comments above for example, someone is suggesting calling a black person a person of dark complexion (which would be an arab not a black person) so what would you call a white person a person of pale complexion?

Same goes for disabled persons. Once we would refer to them as handicapped.

I’m sure there are very good reasons but the word you use ends up having the same meaning in the end so its useless changing terminology you just need to fight stereotypes.

Maybe title should read “Homophobic attack in Hamrun”.

No I didn’t.
Why shoukld a lesbian be offended by being called so?
Answer.
Because she knows that she is something that most people despise,and most consider as unnatural.

@ Silvio:

“I am a man, you are a woman and she is a Lesbian”.

Congratulations. You have just obtained an “F” in biology.

mil-fan dejjem tieghek