According to Thucydides, it went down like this. The island of Lesbos rebelled against the Athenian Empire. The Athenians quickly subdued it, and then it was up to the popular assembly in Athens (you want to see real democracy? This would be it!) to decide what to do with the rebellious islanders. The assembly voted to kill all the adult males, and sell the women and children into slavery. Frees up a lot of real estate. A boat was sent out (powered by rowers) to inform the marines on Lesbos as to their duty. But the next day a shrewd speaker convinced the assembly to reverse its vote. So they sent out a second boat, with a reward promised to the rowers if they got there in time. They did. And so the Lesbians were saved. The male Lesbians that is.
Well, the Lesbians are revolting again. At least one of them: "Dimitris Lambrou, editor-in-chief of the Greek monthly magazine O Davlos ("The Torch")."
Lambrou filed a petition for a temporary injunction in an Athens court. He wanted to keep OLKE, Greece's gay and lesbian association, from continuing to use the word "lesbian." Lambrou himself was born on the island of Lesbos, the home of the poet Sappho, classical muse of all women who love women. Lambrou happens to love his native Lesbos. OLKE, he insists, has stolen the word "lesbian." Women from Lesbos are constantly confused with lesbian women, says Lambrou, who believes real Lesbians can only exist on Lesbos.
Lambrou and his actions were met with resounding applause, in Greece and around the world. Residents of Lesbos contacted him, offering their services as expert witnesses. He even received a call from Canada, from a man originally from Lesbos, who emigrated more than 30 years ago and insisted that he still suffers from the confusion.
Suddenly everything seemed possible. What if an island in the Aegean Sea manages to triumph over the entire world? What if lesbian is just a geographic designation, perhaps even a "brand," something that can be registered and protected?
I find it hard to have much sympathy for Mr. Lambrou's cause. As indicated above, the ancient Greek poet Sapho lived on Lesbos. She wrote love poems to other women. I read her poetry in a Greek literature class back in the late seventies. It was quite striking. I still remember a single line: "lawn, darkened under roses." When a line of poetry sticks with you for thirty years, well, it worked. Because of Sapho, the word "Lesbian" becomes a term for women sexually attracted to other women. That's the way language works.
On the other hand, he sorta has a point:
The matter was brought before an Athens court in early June. The gallery filled with residents of the island of Lesbos, along with homosexual men and women.
"My wife is a Lesbian, my daughter is a Lesbian and I am a Lesbian," Lambrou's [testimony] began, to laughter from the gallery.
"Do you hear those people laughing?" the witness asked the female judge. "All of Greece is laughing about it. And now you can imagine how we are treated abroad."
It's a rare man who can say all that!
But here's the thing: the modern left has worked for decades to build a legal doctrine of proprietary ownership of images and words by indigenous peoples. My original Alma Mater, Arkansas State University, used to have a football team called The Indians. The team mascot looked a lot like Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians. But Native Americans apparently own the idea of Native Americans, and so ASU dumped the "Indians" name, and now the team is called the Red Wolves.
I happen to think that this is very bad political strategy. We are now in the business of systematically erasing the most visible references to our Native heritage. The cowboys and Indians movies are long gone. The mascots are on the way out. In a few decades, most American children won't know that there ever were such people as the Cherokee or Osage nations. That is what the Left is achieving. What Native American activists should have done was what everyone who owns a powerful brand name should: lease it out but keep it under control. Team mascots could have been a vehicle for teaching about our Native heritage, and I say "our" because Americans are Americans, native or otherwise. I am sure the reply would be: "we would never sell our heritage." Fine. Then someone will have to dig it up, a few centuries from now, and say all sorts of ridiculous things about it.
But back to Mr. Lambrou, the Lesbians are an indigenous people if ever there was one. If Native Americans own the word "Indians," surely residents of the island of Lesbos own the word "Lesbians." But of course this isn't a case of taking the word away from a soft target like a state university. Here it is a luminous body of the left that has stolen Lesbos' heritage. So whom does the left side with? I can't wait to see this one played out.
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