The Origin and Evolution of the Term “Lesbian”
The word “lesbian” derives from the Greek island of Lesbos (Λέσβος; modern pronunciation: Lesvos), located in the eastern Aegean Sea. The ancient Greek poet Sappho sang of love between women in her poems. It is likely, though not confirmed, that Sappho herself was lesbian.
Female residents of the island of Lesbos recently attempted to take legal action against the term “lesbian” but, as expected, suffered a judicial defeat with this absurd petition. Like many terms from the sexual sphere, the adjective “lesbian” was occasionally used pejoratively but was then confidently reclaimed by the civil rights movement. Since then, the terms “lesbian” and “gay” — as well as their male equivalents — have served as self-designations for same-sex oriented women and men.
Ongoing Discrimination and the Fight for Equality
While the situation for lesbian women has improved in many ways, discrimination persists. The fact that in many countries only men and women can marry is one example of ongoing sexuality-based discrimination.
Registered civil partnerships cannot compensate for this discrimination on a fundamental level because excluding lesbian women (and gay men) from marriage constitutes state-level selection and preferential treatment of heterosexual relationship models — which represents an attack on lesbian and gay ways of life.
Although the necessity of the institution of marriage is critically debated within lesbian and gay political circles, it remains undisputed that the selective exclusion of lesbians and gay men from an institution as heavily state-favored as marriage constitutes an attack on the equal worth and human dignity of lesbians and gay men. This violation of human rights is significantly influenced by ecclesiastical-clerical circles, whose pseudo-moralism fuels discrimination against lesbians and gay men — while simultaneously contrasting with the revelation of widespread mistreatment and abuse of children and adolescents in church institutions. The sexuality-hostile and anti-human character of church anti-lesbian and anti-gay propaganda is losing more and more persuasive power and is increasingly becoming a fringe position — even in conservative circles.
With the gradually won recognition of their ways of life, lesbians and gay men are increasingly entering the mainstream. At the same time, a growing danger becomes clear: with the subjectively diminishing perception of their own discrimination, they risk becoming indifferent both toward ongoing anti-lesbian and anti-gay societal practices and toward the continued social exclusion of other population groups.
