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Each week, I'll be adding the news from the show, as well as links to other news stories that I find to be interesting or important. I'll also be adding a form in which you may submit news of your own. If I find them appropriate to the format and of interest to Pagans in general, I'll post them here. Currently I'm only one person, so please don't take offense if something doesn't get posted, or doesn't get posted very quickly.
5/4/2008
The "real" lesbians upset.
On June 10, in Athens Greece, courts will have the opportunity
to hear what could be considered
one of the more unusual cases in modern times. 3 citizens from the island of
Lesbos, home of
the 6th century BC Greek Poet Sappho, who often wrote about love between women,
have
decided to file suit against the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece,
for using the
word "Lesbian" in its name.
The plaintiffs are seeking to prohibit the Homosexual
and Lesbian Community of Greece from
using the word "Lesbian" in their name. This particular group is being
targeted because,
according to the plaintiffs, it is the only officially recognized group in Greece
that uses
the word "lesbian" in their name.
The citizens allege that the use of the word "Lesbian"
"insults the identity" of citizens of the
island of Lesbos. One resident, Dimitris Lambrou complained "My sister
can't say she is a
lesbian".
Islanders claim that the word "lesbian" has
only been linked to female homosexuality for the
past few decades. The word "Lesbian", meaning "Of Lesbos was
first used in 1591, but its
use as a noun referring to female homosexuals daters from 1925, though the word
"lesbianism"
was known as far back as the 1870's.
The island is also known by the name of its capital city, Mytilene.
Those filing the suit have claimed that this is not an
act of agression against women who love
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."
Lesbos is a vacation and honeymoon destination for gay women. It might be interesting to see what effect this litigation will have on tourism on that island.
Read more:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1FBB6C19-8FF2-44E6-8882-41272F904892.htm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080430/ap_on_re_eu/greece_lesbian_pride