a rose by any other name...

Lesbos islanders dispute gay name

By Malcolm Brabant
BBC News, Athens

Campaigners on the Greek island of Lesbos are to go to court in an attempt to stop a gay rights organisation from using the term "lesbian".

The islanders say that if they are successful they may then start to fight the word lesbian internationally.

The issue boils down to who has the right to call themselves Lesbians.

Is it gay women, or the 100,000 people living on Greece's third biggest island - plus another 250,000 expatriates who originate from Lesbos?

The man spearheading the case, publisher Dimitris Lambrou, claims that international dominance of the word in its sexual context violates the human rights of the islanders, and disgraces them around the world.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7376919.stm

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Does this mean that the inhabitants of Crete will fight for the right to be called "Cretins" ?