How can it be racist to attack goths?

So. As of last week, punching a goth is a political act in Greater Manchester, but not in Derbyshire. Sussex is still making its mind up.

Odd, yes; funny, no. As you might have read, those police forces who now define assaults on goths as hate crimes have taken this decision in direct response, pretty much, to the murder of Sophie Lancaster, 20, kicked and beaten to death in 2007, clearly, utterly and solely because of her fashion choices.

You can feel that horrible, horrible death already shutting down conversations, as horrible deaths are wont to do. So before it does, and without lessening its tragedy, and indeed, while declaring from the outset that I have always frankly felt a certain kinship with goths, let me say what plenty are thinking.

Goths. I mean, come on. Goths. We’re talking about goths here. There are ethnic minorities, beset on all sides by ceilings and walls, social and professional, glass or otherwise. There are transsexuals, for whom every walk down a crowded street brings its own terrors. There are the disabled, possibly society’s most vulnerable. Then there are goths. Who dress weird. For fun.

But perhaps I get ahead of myself. Goths? Yes? I know we might require some explanation if we were veering deep into cyberpunk, emo or psychobilly territory here, but surely, these days, we’re in fairly mainstream territory with the good old-fashioned British goth? There will be no wry letters about Visigoths, Huns et al, I hope. Just save those ones. Enjoy them in the privacy of your own homes.

The goth is a gentle soul, wearing black, preferring wilted flowers, being fond of vampires, but probably spelling it ‘vampyres’. Not to be confused with the American goth, obviously, which looks much the same, but is more likely to shoot the school sports team and less likely to read books.