Three inhabitants of the Greek island of Lesbos have filed a lawsuit against a gay rights group for calling themselves “lesbians.” Lesbos is a small island in the Aegean Sea and home of the ancient poet Sappho, who lived there in the 6th century B.C. and whose poems contain passionate references about love for other women.

The plaintiffs have asked a Greek court to draw a legal line between gay women and the Lesbos natives. They claim the 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. 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.” Lambrou said the word lesbian has only been linked with gay women in the past few decades. “But we have been Lesbians for thousands of years.”

A spokeswoman for the (lower-case L) lesbian defendants said the (upper-case L) Lesbian action was “a joke in bad taste that borders on discrimination.”

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