Ah, here's a news story that cries out to be quoted in full...Frankly, I'm amazed this hasn't happened before now!
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — 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.
Lambrou also presented an essay on the subject, "The Misfortune of Being Lesbian" (in Greek: Η δυστυχία του να είσαι Λέσβιος, -ια) at the website of his magazine, Davlos, so feel free to go out and work on your modern Greek language skills...
I should just add, since as a footnote to his essay Lambrou appeals to Oxford lexicography and the change in definitions (of both Lesbian and, of course, gay) wreaked by people other than himself between the 1911 and 1999 editions (of the Compact Dictionary), that the big OED has citations for the female homosexual meaning of "Lesbian" dating back to 1870, when A. J. Munby wrote, "Swinburne..expressed a horror of sodomy..and an actual admiration of
Lesbianism, being unable..to see that that is equally loathsome." And finally, if antiquity of usage is the issue, I wonder whether Lambrou is more comfortable with a different "Lesbian" association in ancient Greek - e.g. the verb λεσβιάζω...
Ok, really finally: I think I have a compromise suggestion. Since LesVos is the modern Greek pronunciation of the place name, let's just all say that LesVian will be toponymic designation, and LesBian (to be spelled Λέσμπιος, etc., in Greek) will be the sexual orientation.