It's a great story that makes the world go 'round -- apart from love and money. A story that feeds the insatiable human need for information on the condition of others.

And in Indonesia, the material for such tales never ends. A corruption report every day, death by firing squad, celebrity unions, divorces and a serial murder by an unassuming part-time teacher, with extra bodies unearthed every other day.

Oh, and he is gay!

So said the suspect's neighbors, fueling even greater creativity for the big headlines and convincing quotes from authorities.

"Victims of crimes by homosexuals have been proved to be killed in a more sadistic manner," said one detective.

"Gays won't let go of the man they love," a criminologist was quoted as saying. "If he can't have the guy, then no one can," he added, saying that the only option would be murder.

Counterviews, if any, were drowned out.

Once again, our media is guilty of grave errors, perpetuating widespread discriminative views against gays. The media failed in its basic tenet to do its utmost to be fair and balanced, not to mention it failed to be accurate.

On Thursday several gay groups and other human rights activists conveyed their protest in a joint press conference, decrying what has become the finger-pointing at gays in the serial murder case involving victims in Jakarta and East Java.

"We feel more intimidated and scared," said Hartoyo of Our Voice, saying that all the news and views pinpointing gays, instead of the murder suspect, came on top of the fact that homosexuality is already stigmatized in this country.

Prejudice and ignorance is something we share in this highly diverse country. Every now and then people rally against someone, or another group, who is "different", "un-normal," and it feels the logical thing for many to seek answers and pass judgment.

Politically correct has not quite caught up here. The stigmatized or those who speak for them know they're in for a long, grueling struggle to be taken as equal humans with equal human rights.

Once in a while they speak up, as many did Thursday. Mostly those who are stigmatized live in silence and try to live as normal as possible while others glare -- at the "different" sexual orientation, the strange creed, the black skin, the white skin and so forth. Women, and the disabled, who must repeatedly make us understand that they are "differently abled," know the feeling.

One might say there is the genuine ignorance of a kampung-like, fairly homogeneous community which gapes at every weird thing coming its way -- though this is a lame excuse for residents of our metropolis.

But there can be no such justification for the media which is entrusted to do its bit in educating audiences on the wide world beyond their narrow outlooks.

Here then is fertile ground for propaganda, proof that we have moved little beyond the days of the New Order. There was no need for all that pressure -- people here were, and are, so gullible anyway.

Throw in a few authoritative statements and we seek no further; we have the truth.

These days the gay community suffers from the glares and the whispers around them. But it is a people so willing to be fed "the truth" that will sooner or later endanger us all; the "truth" that we are all uniform and that any deviation is wrong.

So much for a pluralist society. We have a long way to go in nurturing respect and compassion in this supposedly friendly country.

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