An Athens court began grappling with the question "when is a lesbian not a lesbian?" this week after a group from the Greek island of Lesbos accused gay women of monopolising the term. "My mother, my daughter, my sister are ashamed to call themselves Lesbian, meaning residents of Lesbos," Yiannis Achlopitas, a Greek living in the Canadian city of Montreal told the court. "Our women abroad are forced into hiding... this confusion which is offensive to our place of origin is on the internet, in newspapers, everywhere, you can't imagine the defamation in the United States, Canada, Australia," he said. Three residents of the Aegean Sea island filed a complaint in April, calling on the Greek Gay and Lesbian Community (OLKE), the country's main homosexual association, to drop the term, News.com.au reports. Often referred to in Greece as Mytilene - the name of Lesbos' capital - the island was the home of the poet Sappho, who expressed her love of other women in lyric verses written in the early sixth century BC. The court's decision is expected in around a month's time. This story continues on the link below.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 11th June 2008 - 11:03am