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Fight Between Lesbians and Homosexual Women Results in Round One Loss for Island People

Greek islanders pledge to take "Lesbian" fight all the way to the EU Court of Human Rights

By Peter J. Smith

ATHENS, Greece, July 22, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a lawsuit that has lesbians pitted against Lesbians, an Athenian Court has ruled that the inhabitants of the Grecian island of Lesbos cannot forbid homosexual women from describing themselves by the same name.

The residents of Lesbos had requested an injunction to ban use of the word "lesbian" in reference to female homosexuals, insisting that as inhabitants of the isle of Lesbos they were the only true Lesbians and had rights over the name.

Dimitris Lambrou, a magazine editor on the island, filed the application to ban the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece (OLKE), from using the word "lesbian" in their title.
 
"Today's decision is unacceptable and an insult to the people of Lesbos and their three thousand year long history," stated Lambrou according to a report from the British journal, The Telegraph.

"The decision means that we will appeal instantly to a higher court and, at the appropriate time, to the European Court of Human Rights," he continued.

Judge Maria Petsali in her ruling stated that the Lesbians should not take offence that the name identifying their people has become synonymous with female homosexuality and its practices.

"The controversial words at stake should not be seen as an insult to an individual's personality, nationality or social standing, and should not be taken as an individual or collective insult to the people of Lesbos," Petsali said.

Plaintiffs told the Court that their complaint had nothing to do with homosexual rights, but was about respect for their own identity.

"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."

The Lesbians have vowed to press on in the fight.

"The decision by the court will not stop the effort of hundreds of thousands of Lesbian islanders to fight for the right to maintain their name separately from that of a sexual deviation," said Lambrou. "It is a misguided ruling, so we have decided to take the matter to the highest courts both in Greece and Europe".

Read previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Lesbos Islanders in Court This Week Over Misappropriation Of "Lesbian" Name
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08061306.html

Residents of Island of Lesbos are the Only Real 'Lesbians' - Suit Launched over Use of Term
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08043006.html

Despite Formidable Opposition, Tiny Greek Island Sees First Homosexual "Marriage"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060308.html

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