I have to laugh at this story -- because it brings to mind a discussion I had in my classroom a couple of years ago.

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.

We'll refrain from jokes about Lambrou being a male Lesbian (I vaguely to recall a Limbaugh caller over 15 years ago claiming to be a "male lesbian") and simply note that this lawsuit seems pretty frivolous to me.

But as I said, it does bring back memories of a classroom discussion a couple of years ago.

As do most world history texts, ours mentions Sappho of Lesbos as one of the great writers of Greek antiquity. One openly lesbian 10th grader immediately made the connection between "Lesbos" and "lesbian" and raised the point. The sort of banter one would imagine among 15-16 year old students ran for about 20-30 seconds until I could tamp it down, at which point I answered her question by noting that "Lesbian" would be the term used to describe anyone of either gender and any sexual orientation if they were from Lesbos -- and that in the ancient world the island was noted for its fine "Lesbian" wine and other products. So despite my assessment of the merits of the lawsuit, a part of me is glad to see the people of the island seeking to reclaim their right to the word.

Posted by: Greg at 10:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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