‘I’ve been fighting for a human right for seven years’

Every weekend, when Joanne Cassar gets ready to go out with her friends, she prepares herself to be stared at, insulted and pushed around by complete strangers. In the past the 31-year-old, who underwent gender reassignment surgery nine years ago, has even been beaten up because of who she is. The latest violent episode was three years ago when she was at a carnival party in Gozo. “I was walking off the dance floor. I was hit on the head with a bottle and kicked in my chest and stomach. They stole my bag,” she recalled, adding she did not see the point in filing a police report. “What would I get out of it? I’d end up having to go to court repeatedly… and if I had to file a report each time I’m insulted, I might as well move into the police station,” she said. Her words shed light on why both the police and the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality told The Sunday Times they had no reports of harassment or discrimination triggered by a person’s sexual orientation. The remit of the NCPE was only broadened to cover sexual orientation last June. This came after sexual orientation was included in the legal definition of a hate crime in March. Anyone found guilty of...