By Thaddeus
M. Baklinski
ATHENS,
Greece, June 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As LifeSiteNews.com reported earlier
this month, three citizens of the Greek Island of Lesbos are pursuing a lawsuit
against the Greek Gay and Lesbian Union (GGLU) for its use of the term
"lesbian". The islanders hope to have the court ban the use of the
word to describe homosexual women.
"We
are very upset that, worldwide, women who like women have appropriated the name
of our island," said Dimitris Lambrou, a magazine publisher and one of the
islanders making the complaint. "Until 1924, according to the Oxford
English dictionary, a Lesbian was a native of our isle," he said. "Now,
because of its new connotations, our womenfolk are unable to call themselves
such and that is wrong."
The
plaintiffs told the court the dispute was over identity and not sexuality.
"Gay
women have every right to define themselves as they wish, but they don't have
the right to appropriate our national identity," Lesbos native Ioannis
Achlioptas said.
"I
have a hard time explaining to my daughter that we Lesbians are not
homosexuals. My mother, my sister and my daughter are all Lesbians and it's
incredible the amount of ridicule they suffer because of this," Achlioptas
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."
One of the
islanders wore a badge that read "I am Paul and I am a Lesbian" and
afterward unfurled a banner which read, "If you are not from Lesbos, you
are not a Lesbian". Another island native held a banner that read,
"Yes, Lesbians Do Marry The Opposite Sex".
Dimitris
Papadelis, the lawyer representing the islanders, said the word "causes
confusion by using a geographic term in connection with [the group's] special
character and social action," according to the Associated Press.
Lawyers
from both sides submitted written arguments on Wednesday, and the court is
expected to issue its decision in the next two to six months.