Fridae

News of the July 22 shooting rampage and bombing in Norway that left 92 people dead grabbed headlines around the world for days but one story involving a married lesbian couple, who saved as many as 40 people by making four trips in their boat, has notably been given the silent treatment by mainstream media outlets.

Hege Dalen and her spouse, Toril Hansen were reportedly dining on the opposite shore from the youth campsite on Utoya Island just before the shooting. Upon hearing the gunfire and screaming, they quickly drove their boat towards the island and picked up people who were trying to escape by swimming from the island.

The Talkaboutequality blog posed the question in an Aug 1 post: If a Married Lesbian Couple Saves 40 Teens from the Norway Massacre and No One Writes About it, Did it Really Happen?

It published an English translation of a report that appeared in the Finnish language Helsingin Sanomat, the largest subscription newspaper in Finland:

Hege Dalen and her spouse, Toril Hansen were near Utöyan having dinner on the opposite shore across from the ill-fated campsite, when they began to hear gunfire and screaming on the island.

“We were eating. Then shooting and then the awful screaming. We saw how the young people ran in panic into the lake,” says Dale to HS in an interview.

The couple immediately took action and pushed the boat into Lake Tyrifjorden.

Dalen and Hansen drove the boat to the island, picked up from the water victims in shock in, the young and wounded, and transported them to the opposite shore to the mainland. Between runs they saw that the bullets had hit the right side of the boat.

Since there were so many and not all fit at once aboard, they returned to the island four times.

They were able to rescue 40 young people from the clutches of the killer.

“We did not sleep last night at all. Today, we have been together and talked about the events,” Dalen said.

In a follow-up post on Talkaboutequality on Aug 2, it explained why they thought it to be necessary to highlight the couple’s sexual orientation (and marital status) in response to queries from readers who thought otherwise.

“… our blog cannot claim credit for breaking this news in any way – what we did do was ask the question about why it wasn’t getting covered by the mainstream media. Several people have asked why it’s necessary to report that it was a married lesbian couple that committed this heroic deed. You never hear “A straight firefighter saved a family from a burning building.” I agree. You don’t hear in the press when someone is straight and does something good. You also don’t hear when someone is straight and does something bad. But when someone who is LGBT does something bad, you can BET that their sexual orientation or gender identity is one of the first important facts of the story.

“We live in an era when unprecedented numbers of kids are taking their own lives because of the simple fact that they feel alone and trapped. For generation, at least in the US, we have raised children in a world where it is okay to discriminate against LGBT people. We have told kids as they grow up that there is nothing worse than being gay, that if you are gay, you will have no friends, no family and you will probably die of AIDS.

“… why has this story been ignored by the mainstream media? I don’t know. That’s why I posted the article. Is it because the couple is lesbian? Perhaps… And finally, please accept our personal thanks for sharing this story on behalf of kids growing up thinking they won’t amount to anything. Thank you for sharing this story and letting young people know that no matter who they are and no matter who they love, they too can be heroes.”

Although the translated story has since been picked up by English-language LGBT blogs, it was not reported in mainstream papers although Tom Chivers, a columnist at The Telegraph, furnished a list of stories from other media outlets about the heroic acts of others who rescued others from the same island, and offered some thoughts about the media silence about the lesbian couple. 

“Have the media ignored a gold-plated tale of bravery and heroism just because they don’t like the sexual orientation of the protagonists? I don’t know, obviously. But it’s not as though it’s just traditionally minded, conservative news organisations, who might be expected to have misgivings about homosexual marriage, which have not reported on Mrs Hansen and Mrs Dalen’s heroism. The Guardian and The Independent – and, indeed, the aforementioned New York Times – are all proudly liberal papers, but none seem to have covered it.

“Of course, in the hours after the event, they would most likely have got their stories from newswires and local press, so it’s conceivable that – for whatever reason – those sources had their own biases. Maybe a lesbian couple doesn’t fit the mould of heroic rescuer that we in the media are used to, so the interview-hungry hacks at the scene gathered around burly, bearded Scandinavian men who more easily met their preconceptions. But I think it’s more likely that it’s just that, in the panicked days after the attacks, they just never happened to speak to a journalist. I can’t imagine many reporters ignoring their story if they met them; indeed (no great improvement though this might be) the lesbian “angle” might make it more appealing to a certain, more salacious brand of journalism. I may be wrong, I may be ignoring a deep-seated strain of homophobia that runs through the press of Europe and America alike, but in general I tend to assume cock-up rather than conspiracy.”