Greek Lesbians Sued For Calling Themselves... Er, Lesbians

[DeSwiss]

People Of Lesbos Take Gay Group To Court Over Term 'Lesbian'

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS, Associated Press Writer
April 30, 2008



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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080430/ap_on_re_eu/greece_lesbian_pride">MORE

- What a bunch of pricks. Oops, I guess the Pricktarians will be calling me next.

I wonder if they win their case, does this mean that Egypt will be suing Cairo, Illnois for copyright infringement? Might Turkey sue Philidelphia? And could Amerigo Vespucci's family sue all of us for calling ourselves... Americans? Will we have to go with something like.... the Unitedstaters? Or maybe just use what every other person in foreign countries now call us (excluding despots and totalitarians regimes), the Goddamn Arrogant Bastards....
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DeSwiss


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[Radical Activist]

1. This destroys all my fantasies about the island of Lesbos.

Idiots.

[DeSwiss]

2. Or...

...maybe they could change just one letter.... to "Lezbians." A second alternative would be to add an "s" to make it: "Lessbians." But this one might not fly.

- But either way, you could keep your fantasies intact.

[Radical Activist]

9. The island people can call themselves something else

if they're so worried about it but I think they should get over it.
And on second thought, my dreams will never die.

[TheWraith]

11. The lawsuit proposes a compromise measure

That Greek gay women would call themselves Sapphists, and residents of Lesbos would call themselves Mytilenians (after their capital city).

[msongs]

6. che knew what to do with lesbians - he used a gun on them. bang! nt

[DarkTirade]

3. What a bunch of cretans.

:P

[Ellen Forradalom]

4. The isle of Crete promptly filed suit

:-)

[izquierdista]

5. Serves them right

That's what you get when you hijack a place-name. They could have used Sapphoists, Sapphophiles, or many other words to brand themselves and self-identify, but they got fixated on a place name.

I don't think any group of people would like to see themselves as internationally recognized as participants in any specific genre of sexual activity. The use of "French" and "Greek" in the American idiom to mean certain sexual practices is thankfully still relegated to slang and hasn't gotten as widespread as the use of the term 'Lesbian'. And I don't think the capital "L" Lesbians are going to be mollified by small "l" lesbians saying "get over it". They were there first.

Humans are naturally shy about their sexual proclivities and Lesbians shouldn't have to explain themselves because lesbians go around advertising themselves with an altered definition of the word.

[DeSwiss]

7. Etymology is your friend.... :-)

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=lesbian&searchmode=none">Lesbian (adj.)

1591, from L. Lesbius, from Gk. lesbios "of Lesbos," Gk. island in northeastern Aegean Sea, home of Sappho, great lyric poet whose erotic and romantic verse embraced women as well as men, hence meaning "relating to homosexual relations between women" (1890; lesbianism in this sense is attested from 1870) and the noun, first recorded 1925. Slang variant lez, les is from 1929; lesbo first attested 1940. Before this, the principal fig. use (common in 17c.) was lesbian rule (1601) a mason's rule of lead, of a type used on Lesbos, which could be bent to fit the curves of a molding; hence, "pliant morality or judgment."

I don't agree with the idea that the word lesbian has been "hijacked." At least as it applies to anyone living today, given that the word's usage in this context has existed since 1870.

And as for any group being "recognized as participants in any specific genre of sexual activity," what do you suppose these people have to put up with?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucking%2C_Austria">link



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DeSwiss


http://atheisttoolbox.com/">The Atheist Toolbox

[izquierdista]

10. Do they speak English there?

I thought not.

Though I do love cross-language hijinks. My favorite would be crowds of Polacks greeting Dubya with signs saying "Jeb Bush!" (Fuck Bush in case you are not up on Polish obscenities).

[Toasterlad]

8. There's More to Being Gay Than Sex, Mary.

Sorry you and the inhabitants of Lesbos can't hear the word lesbian without thinking of eating box, but the rest of us aren't about to change a perfectly acceptable word that's been in service forever just because it gives you the heebie-jeebies. You - and they - might just have to, oh, GROW UP.

[Zuiderelle]

12. "genre of sexual activity!!" "sexual proclivities!" Wow, you have some progressiveness to learn.

"Humans are naturally shy about their sexual proclivities" I guess you are suggesting that lesbians (er, sapphoists) should shut up and be shy about our entire identity simply because you think it's all about sex? I really had no idea the extent to which we were insulting you and those poor "real" Lesbians by our very existence.

[ccharles000]

13. You know what they say...

every time a lesbian gets sued rush limbaugh gets a boner.

[DarkTirade]

14. Gaaah... my mind's eye...

it burns!