Posted on 07/22/2008 5:21:14 PM PDT by Schnucki
Three residents of the Greek island of Lesbos have lost an attempt to ban the use of the word "lesbian" to describe gay women.
The residents argued that using the term in reference to gay women insulted their identity.
But an Athens court ruled there was no justification for their contention that they felt slighted, saying the word did not define the islanders' identity.
Greeks often refer to the island as Mytilene, after its capital.
"This is a good decision for lesbians everywhere," Vassilis Chirdaris, lawyer for the Gay and Lesbian Union of Greece, told Reuters news agency.
Court expenses
The island's name was applied to gay women in acknowledgement of the female poet Sappho, who wrote love poems about both women and men in about 600 BC.
The man spearheading the case, publisher Dimitris Lambrou, had claimed that international dominance of the word in its sexual context violated the human rights of the islanders - who call themselves Lesbians - and disgraces them around the world.
He argued it caused daily problems to the social life of Lesbos's inhabitants.
But the court disagreed, ordering the plaintiffs to pay court expenses of 230 euros ($366), although they could appeal against the decision.
BBC is slipping. “Appeal” should be “lawsuit.”
In other news, “Headline Hack Hates Heteros.”
;^)
in a related story amsterdam will still call its flood protection barriers dykes...
You may be right, but I think it was just a case where they couldn’t resist the play on words. :)
You know, you’re right . . . I didn’t see the “lesbian appeal” angle at first.
Can’t get too upset about it - it seemed like sort of a queer case to me but I’m still perfectly gay.
When dykes date, do they go Dutch? :)
In other news, The Island of Rugmuncher, tourism booms!
Headline Hack Hates Heteros
Bickering Bi's Botch Butch Banning
Headline Hack Hates Heteros
Bickering Bi's Botch Butch Banning
Dickering Dykes disconsolate in Discriminating defeat!
yes, and after dinner they always smoke a fag...
I think the major industry on lesbos is some sort of carpet certification process.
Do they share the fag?
There’s a Gay Head, Massachussetts. Wonder if they’ll sue. Oops, transgender speech.
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