May 09, 2008   | COMMENTS     

Lesbos residents sue gay group over use of name

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A Greek court has been asked to draw the line between the natives of the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos and the world’s gay women. Three islanders from Lesbos — home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women — have taken a gay rights group to court for using the word lesbian in its name. One of the plaintiffs said in April that the name of the association, Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, “insults the identity” of the people of Lesbos, who are also known as Lesbians. “My sister can’t say she is a Lesbian,” said Dimitris Lambrou. “Our geographical designation has been usurped by certain ladies who have no connection whatsoever with Lesbos,” he said. The three plaintiffs are seeking to have the group barred from using “lesbian” in its name and filed a lawsuit on April 10. The other two plaintiffs are women. Also called Mytilene, after its capital, Lesbos is famed as the birthplace of Sappho. The island is a favored holiday destination for gay women, particularly the lyric poet’s reputed hometown of Eressos. “This is not an aggressive act against gay women,” Lambrou said. “Let them visit Lesbos and get married and whatever they like. We just want [the group] to remove the word lesbian from their title.” The case will be heard in an Athens court on June 10. Lambrou argues that the term has only been used for female homosexuals in the last several decades while islanders have used it for thousands of years.

Australia to remove anti-gay discrimination from 100 laws

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s new government won praise last week for its plan to eliminate discrimination against gay couples in more than 100 laws, but even those applauding said it should go further and approve same-sex marriages. Attorney General Robert McClelland announced that the government will change federal laws to ensure that gay couples in long-term relationships are treated the same as married couples on issues such as taxation, pensions and welfare payments. “It will make a practical difference to the everyday lives of a group of our fellow Australians who have been discriminated against for far too long,” McClelland told reporters. The amendments will be introduced in Parliament next month, McClelland said, but it will take a year to complete the process. McClelland said the Marriage Act — the law that applies nationally to ratify marriage — would not be among the laws changed. “The government regards marriage as being between a man and a woman and we don’t support any measures that seek to mimic that process,” he said. Rights advocates welcomed the proposed changes, but said the government should go further. “Gay and lesbian Australians will not be fully equal until we are allowed the right to marry the partner of our choice,” Rodney Croome of the Australian Coalition for Equality group told national television. Gay marriage is a hot-button issue in mostly Christian Australia. Many people believe it would undermine the institution of marriage, while gay rights advocates say it is a key test of authorities’ willingness to end discrimination. Australia’s six states and two territories already have passed their own laws giving various levels of recognition to same-sex couples, but change at the federal level has lagged.

Gay maypole vandalized in Germany one week after being erected

LONDON — A maypole featuring depictions of gay and lesbian life in the German city of Munich has been subjected to a suspected homophobic attack, Pink News reported this week. The community resource was only erected last week. Sometime over the weekend vandals attacked the maypole with gray paint, and painted tablets that hang from the pole’s crossbeam were severely damaged, the report said. The paint cannot be removed. Conrad Breyer, spokesperson for the Gay Communication and Culture Centre of Munich, told a German news agency that the incident, “could have been a stupid youth prank, but everywhere there were gay motifs, like a rainbow, exactly those points were painted. One could assume it’s an anti-gay act.”

Lesbian soccer player gang raped and murdered in South Africa

LONDON — A prominent female soccer player gang-raped and murdered in South Africa last week was the victim of homophobic violence, activists told Pink News. Lesbian Eudy Simelane, 31, was buried in South Africa last week. She had played for the national women’s squad, nicknamed Banyana Banyana. Simelane was returning home from a night out ...