There was absolutely no need for the savage reaction of an off-duty bus driver who beat on a young female passenger after dragging her off a bus in Valletta.
The story has taken several twists along the way, but it seems that from viewing the footage of the incident which was uploaded to YouTube, an off-duty bus driver told two girls to what can be best translated to as “could you behave like decent people”. The driver was referring to the fact that the girl who he ended up beating up was canoodling with another girl, presumably, her girlfriend. We will again make it amply clear; that man had no business to strike the girl, lesbian or not, it makes no difference.
This has been labelled a hate crime, but we are not so sure. It is different to the case in Ħamrun where two girls were deliberately targeted because they are girls and in a relationship. This case related to Arriva sounds more like a case of someone being a bit fed up with an over the top public display of affection.
However, this happens with all teenagers; male, female, gay and straight. They just love to push everyone’s buttons by engaging in heavy petting in public. It happens in Sliema, St Julian’s, Valletta, the beach and in this case, a bus.
The Prime Minister was absolutely right in calling for an amendment to the laws relating to hate crimes. Attacks on homosexual people for the simple reason of being of one type of sexual orientation is wrong and such bigots who do engage in such attacks do not really deserve to be part of a modern and open European society.
This bus case, as we have mentioned, seems to be a bit convoluted and did seem to involve an element of deliberate confrontation. We will not use the world provocation, because no matter what happened, that off-duty bus driver should never have lifted a finger on anyone. What is certain is that the two girls were not breaking any laws, but the point must be raised, what if it was a boy and a girl. Would the same kind of argument have erupted, or would they have sheepishly gone a little quiet when someone in uniform told them to ‘behave’.
The unfortunate thing about this incident is that it distorts the very real discrimination and fear that some homosexual people have to put up with as a result of direct or indirect harassment. This newspaper believes that each and every person has a right to chose their own partner, on whatever merit they like. We call people gay, lesbian and transgender. We do not call heterosexuals ‘normal’, either. We believe that homosexual people should be allowed to live their lives in peace and be protected by laws which specifically target those people who cannot accept them. But at the same time, we cannot accept a situation where teenagers sit behind the protective screen of being gay. Do we really want to go down that slippery slope?
If we do get to this sad situation, it would actually be detrimental for every good, honest, clean living gay or lesbian person, or couple, who live their lives in a normal manner. There must be some case law which can be looked into, or referred to, because this could turn out to be very dangerous, if implemented wrongly, even if the intention is good.