Some people seem to think that because the victims were lesbians, it's unfair to take that into account, we should only consider them as women and nothing more. No different than anybody else who may be attacked on a bus at night.
To point out they were lesbian, and how that might add an additional level of wrongdoing to the crime - for some people seems inconceivable and is unfair on the defendants, because they'll receive a harsher punishment than if they'd attacked a straight women or man in a random attack.
The fact of the matter is, according to all the reports - they were attacked because they were lesbian, that's the whole reason it started, the motive. Not because they were black, asian, fat, thin, white - they were attacked because they were lesbians.
Therefore, this is an aggravating factor - if you single someone out and attack them because of a specific factor, that is an additional level of malice or intent that would not be present in a random attack - which makes it worse, because it carries additional levels of criminal intent, than say simply beating and robbing a random person. (which in itself would still be a serious crime)
The society we live in has made an intense and successful effort over the years, to be inclusive of these people, as a society we should be open and accepting of people who were born a certain way and allow them to live as they please, when they're attacked and beaten because of how they live - we should all be appalled, especially when they're seemingly singled out for that reason.