Dictionary powers a-go-go!

This is one of those things that really comes at you out of nowhere. The island of Lesbos (no, sadly, that's not as fabulous as it sounds) is suing a gay rights group over the use of the word "lesbian" in its name.

The three plaintiffs are trying to bar the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece from using the word "lesbian" in its name.

Of course, we're all familiar with the term lesbian. But how many of us knew that it is not only a term for women who prefer the company of other women, but also a term for a native of the island of Lesbos (again, not as fabulous as it sounds)? Not many, I'll bet.

That seems to be the issue in the case at hand.

"'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 whatosever with Lesbos,' he said."

He goes on to say that the word lesbian has only been linked with gay women "in the past few decades," but the 1870 Oxford English dictionary would seem to contradict him on this point. The word as it appears in that book is used to refer to sexual orientation. So, let's see... it's 2008, and that dictionary was published in 1870, so that makes... 138 years? I suppose thirteen decades qualifies as "a few."

He goes on to say that Sappho wasn't gay. Right. Of course. Because those poems that talk about praying to Aphrodite to sway the affections of a (definitely female) beauty and such are totally the work of a heterosexual woman.
Just look below, how could this have been written by anyone other than a straight poet?

Shimmering-throned immortal Aphrodite,
Daughter of Zeus, Enchantress, I implore thee,
Spare me, O queen, this agony and anguish,
Crush not my spirit.

Whenever before thou has hearkened to me—
To my voice calling to thee in the distance,
And heeding, thou hast come, leaving thy father's
Golden dominions,

With chariot yoked to thy fleet-winged coursers,
Fluttering swift pinions over earth's darkness,
And bringing thee through the infinite, gliding
Downwards from heaven,

Then, soon they arrived and thou, blessed goddess,
With divine contenance smiling, didst ask me
What new woe had befallen me now and why,
Thus I had called thee.

What in my mad heart was my greatest desire,
Who was it now that must feel my allurements,
Who was the fair one that must be persuaded,
Who wronged thee Sappho?

For if now she flees, quickly she shall follow
And if she spurns gifts, soon shall she offer them
Yea, if she knows not love, soon shall she feel it
Even reluctant.

Come then, I pray, grant me surcease from sorrow,
Drive away care, I beseech thee, O goddess
Fulfil for me what I yearn to accomplish,
Be thou my ally.

(Just a hint. Those "she"s aren't referring to Sappho or Aphrodite.)