Island of Lesbos sues over the term "lesbian"

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Nekusagi

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Source: AP
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080430/ap_on_re_eu/greece_lesbian_pride)


ATHENS, Greece - A Greek court has been asked to draw the line between the natives of the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos and the world's gay women.

Three islanders from Lesbos — home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women — have taken a gay rights group to court for using the word lesbian in its name.

One of the plaintiffs said Wednesday that the name of the association, Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, "insults the identity" of the people of Lesbos, who are also known as Lesbians.

"My sister can't say she is a Lesbian," said Dimitris Lambrou. "Our geographical designation has been usurped by certain ladies who have no connection whatsoever with Lesbos," he said.

The three plaintiffs are seeking to have the group barred from using "lesbian" in its name and filed a lawsuit on April 10. The other two plaintiffs are women.

Also called Mytilene, after its capital, Lesbos is famed as the birthplace of Sappho. The island is a favored holiday destination for gay women, particularly the lyric poet's reputed home town of Eressos.

"This is not an aggressive act against gay women," Lambrou said. "Let them visit Lesbos and get married and whatever they like. We just want (the group) to remove the word lesbian from their title."

He said the plaintiffs targeted the group because it is the only officially registered gay group in Greece to use the word lesbian in its name. The case will be heard in an Athens court on June 10.

Sappho lived from the late 7th to the early 6th century B.C. and is considered one of the greatest poets of antiquity. Many of her poems, written in the first person and intended to be accompanied by music, contain passionate references to love for other women.

Lambrou said the word lesbian has only been linked with gay women in the past few decades. "But we have been Lesbians for thousands of years," said Lambrou, who publishes a small magazine on ancient Greek religion and technology that frequently criticizes the Christian Church.

Very little is known of Sappho's life. According to some ancient accounts, she was an aristocrat who married a rich merchant and had a daughter with him. One tradition says that she killed herself by jumping off a cliff over an unhappy love affair.

Lambrou says Sappho was not gay. "But even if we assume she was, how can 250,000 people of Lesbian descent — including women — be considered homosexual?"

The Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece could not be reached for comment.
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...wow.
 
How apt that this happens to be in Greece.

Screaming "This IS LESBOS!" at the top of their lungs while defending
their beloved island from being defaced and degraded may teach those
non-lesbian natives a thing or two.

Then again, South Park already did that so I guess they'll have to find
some other way to avoid a copyright infringement lawsuit. :lol:
 
I wonder where 'gay' came from then for male homosexuals..

Maybe they could call female homosexuals 'Amazites' (Amazonians) or something like that, or would Brazil sue? xD
 
I wonder where 'gay' came from then for male homosexuals.
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A newsletter from the early 20th century for gays and lesbians described itself as the "Gayest Newspaper" to hide straights from finding it.
 
Plus, a lot of male homosexuals, at least those embracing the "lifestyle" istead of, you know, just liking men instead of women, acted in a way that would be described as "gay" before "gay" meant "homosexual".
 
And it took all this time for this to happen, why? What next? India suing us for calling our natives Indians?
 
Indian isn't associated with a taboo connotation. In this case, the people of Lesbos can no longer separate their identity from the more overwhelming woman x woman = lesbian view. It's like how 'bitch' suddenly became a derogatory slur from its original meaning but the difference is that you won't see female dogs fighting for their dignity back in court.

Of course enacting a legislation to end the usage is useless anyway if a good chunk of the world already associates 'lesbian' as the love between two women. I'm willing to bet that there are many more women x women couples than Lesbos island natives. The people from Lesbos may have a right to use 'Lesbian,' but that's not going to change everyone's minds on what the term implies.
 
How about "Sapphian"?

You go to the roots of the term, and Lesbos is no longer... mocked. Or whatever.


And a lot of Native Americans would probably disagree there's no taboo connotation there. Many are offended by the term "Indian" owing to its roots in Columbus's mistake.
 
Neku said:
And a lot of Native Americans would probably disagree there's no taboo connotation there. Many are offended by the term "Indian" owing to its roots in Columbus's mistake.
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Point taken.
 
And a lot of Native Americans would probably disagree there's no taboo connotation there. Many are offended by the term "Indian" owing to its roots in Columbus's mistake.
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Most of us actually don't care, except for a few and some very political white people.
 
Why is it even called the "Homosexual and Lesbian Association"? That's redundant. At least "Gay and Lesbian Association" would make sense, since for some reason people seem to think "gay" only means men.
 
I gave up long ago trying to figure out why there has to be a gender distinction in labels. In the language of my parents, Finnish, there are no gender specific words. Finnish is gender neutral unless you specifically say man or woman. No he/she or him/her.
 
Ketsuban said:
Why is it even called the "Homosexual and Lesbian Association"? That's redundant. At least "Gay and Lesbian Association" would make sense, since for some reason people seem to think "gay" only means men.
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I think gay does only refer to men, while lesbian is a female term. Anyway, I alway use homosexual instead of these, so I'm not really sure.
 
No, the term "gay" can refer to women as well.
 
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