TIMESONLINE: Dimitris Lambrou is tired of being called a lesbian.
As a magazine publisher on the Greek island of Lesvos — Lesbos according to the classical spelling — he is suing Greece’s biggest gay and lesbian association to get the term (with a small l) expunged from public usage.
He claims it is insulting to what he calls the proper Lesbians — the people of Lesvos. “We are suffering psychological and moral rape,” said Mr Lambrou.
Mr Lambrou’s magazine, called Davlos (Torch), has been campaigning against the lesbian identification with the island for years, even since gay women around the world made it a place of pilgrimage. The town of Eressos has become known as a world lesbian conference centre.
He and two local women, Maria Rodou and Kokkoni Kouvalaki, are the plaintiffs in the case scheduled to be heard in an Athens court on June 10.
“This is ludicrous,” countered Evangelia Vlami, a member of the Greek Gay and Lesbian Union, which is being sued. “The term has been in use for thousands of years to denote gay women.” The Union is now fighting for the right to same-sex marriage in this otherwise devout Orthodox country. Lesvos was the birthplace of Sappho >>> | April 30, 2008
THE GUARDIAN:
Sun, sea and Sappho >>> By Julie Bindel | May 8, 2008
BRISBANE TIMES:
'We're not gay (not that there's anything wrong with that)' >>> | By Helena Smith in Athens | June 11, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
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