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Loading ...Lesbos Loses Lesbian Lawsuit
07.22.2008 1:06pm EDT
(Athens) A Greek court Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit accusing an LGBT rights group of demeaning the people of the Aegean island of Lesbos by purloining the word Lesbian, a term islanders have used to name themselves for centuries.
The lawsuit was brought by three islanders from Lesbos, home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women. The island is a popular holiday destination for gay women.The suit said hat the name of the LGBT group – Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece – “insults the identity” of the people of Lesbos.
In dismissing the case, the court said that islanders did not have sole claim to the name.
Attorneys for the three islanders said they may appeal to the European Court.
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.
Very little is known of her 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.
Dimitris Lambrou one of the litigants in the case said Sappho was not gay. “But even if we assume she was, how can 250,000 people of Lesbian descent – including women – be considered homosexual?”
Lambrou also denied the suit was homophobic.
“The word lesbian has been associated with gay women for the past few decades but we have been Lesbians for thousands of years,” he said.
Wouldn’t it be funny if since they claim to own the word ‘lesbian’ if all of a sudden the small island was swamped with lesbians intent on taking over the island?
Perhaps the islanders could change their native term to “lesbon”, “lesboterian”, or “lesbonian”. After all, lesbian contains an i after the b, and there isn’t an i in lesbos.
The Greek word is actually not ‘Lesbian’, but ‘Lesbiakos’ (Λεσβιακός m., Λεσβιακή f.). The ‘-an’ ending is a Latin ending, not Greek. Some islanders prefer to call themselves ‘Lesbiots’, similar to ‘Cypriots’ for the people of Cyprus.
–Steve
San Diego
Actually the term as applied to gay women has always seemed to me to be mildly pejorative, like “homosexual” as used by conservatives who will do anything to to avoid the word “gay.” Ellen Degeneres wasn’t far off the mark when she said it sounds like a disease. “Sapphite” is just as bad, rather like “Sodomite.”
I always thought that natives of the island of Lesbos were called Lesbosnians. Who knew?
I cantbelieve, we, as humans would even worry about this LET ALONE BRING IT TO COURT. We, humans, seem like children in adult bodies. With all the problems in the world thats what these islanders stress about??????????? So unevolved i guess…. depressing!
On some websites I’ve seen a debate about straight hetro males identifying as lesbians. (They do not say they are MTF, FTM or transgender) Some have said yes, others say no they are just the male friends of lesbians. This certainly ends that argument.
Don’t use the term to describe myself. I’m gay or a gay woman. After all what word to we use to differentiate straight women from straight men?