| Lesbos scenery | Music | 00:00 |
| Sappho statues | VATSIKOPOULOS: Her name is Sappho and there are statues of her all over Lesbos. Their favourite daughter, the one who put them on the map. | 00:28 |
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| Music | 00:39 |
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| VATSIKOPOULOS: She was a poet, a Muse: the world’s first feminist - all that back in the 6th century before Christ. | 00:43 |
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| Music | 00:51 |
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| VATSIKOPOULOS: Somewhere along the way she became a gay icon. Although her sexuality is unclear, she’s so adored by homosexual women, that they called themselves Sapphics. Which evolved into Lesbians, in honour of her birthplace. | 00:55 |
| Women on Lesbos | Music | 01:11 |
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| VATSIKOPOULOS: But no-one asked the citizens of Lesbos if they'd agree to share their name. And that’s why Lesbians have taken the other lesbians to court in Athens. | 01:17 |
| Lambrou | DIMITRIS LAMBROU: It is the word and nothing but the word. It’s a birthplace issue, an issue of geographical identity as well as being an issue of the culture and history of Lesbos. A culture that is extremely rich and a history dating back thousands of years. | 01:33 |
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| VATSIKOPOULOS: The gay group thinks the court case is a joke in bad taste. EVANGELIA VLAMI: He’s homophobic | 02:00 |
| Evangelia. Super: | and especially Lesbophobic because he’s against us because Lesbian is a word connected with sexual orientation and only because of this. | 02:06 |
| Greek flag/Acropolis | Music | 02:22 |
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| VATSIKOPOULOS: The Athenian judge ruled against Mr Lambrou – finding that both Lesbians could share the name. | 02:26 |
| Lesbos harbour | Music | 02:34 |
| Island scenery | VATSIKOPOULOS: Back in Lesbos - those still offended have vowed to appeal – promising to go as high as the European Court of Human Rights. | 02:38 |
| Women on Lesbos | In the Greek language, the same word can have different meanings depending on where you put the emphasis. For example a LESvia is a woman from Lesbos, a LesVIA is a homosexual woman. | 02:49 |
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| But when the word becomes an adjective describing an organisation or institution – that’s when things get a little confusing and some say very embarrassing. | 03:03 |
| Lesbian buildings | For example – which Lesbians are catered for at the Lesbian Hotel, use Lesbian traditional products, and frequent the Lesbian Meatmarket. | 03:19 |
| Vox pops with islanders | MAN BLUE T SHIRT: If a woman says she’s from Lesbos immediately they think she’s a lesbian. | 03:34 |
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| YOUNG WOMAN: Yes well the women who live in Lesbos consider it insulting. The fact that we are all called lesbians as are those other women. | 03:39 |
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| Q: Do you find that insulting? WOMAN OLDER: Off course. | 03:49 |
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| MAN BLACK T SHIRT: The meaning isn’t correct because a Lesbian is a person from Lesbos. They should be called homosexuals the same as men are called. | 03:52 |
| Hills of central Lesbos/ Lambrou in vineyard | Music | 04:08 |
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| VATSIKOPOULOS: In the fertile hills of central Lesbos, the publisher Dimitris Lambrou nurtures his Lesbian vines -- the exact variety of grape favoured by the ancient Lesbians. | 04:23 |
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| As a scholar of the classics, he remains fiercely protective of a history and identity that goes back at least 2,800 years. | 04:39 |
| Lambrou | LAMBROU: Our name can reflect who we are. If the meaning invokes other associations and is confused it can cause a personality disorder. This is a serious issue -- ask any psychiatrist and they will tell you. But they don’t get it. They think this is just fun and games. No, I don’t want my name to have other connotations. I want to say who I am….a Lesbian. End of story. These women have to realise that they’re doing us harm. | 04:55 |
| Women on beach | Music | 05:31 |
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| VATSIKOPOULOS: Across the island on the west coast town of Eressos, the other Lesbians are finding his claim to exclusivity all very amusing.
| 05:41 |
| Group of women around table | SANDRA: I don’t know how many Lesbians | 05:51 |
| Sandra | are living on this planet. I think this is ridiculous, really, that’s all what I can say today. | 05:53 |
| Eressos | VATSIKOPOULOS: Every year, the women holiday here in Eressos, the town where Sappho was born. | 06:03 |
| Maria at café | MARIA: Ok sweetie, I'll make your coffee. | 06:09 |
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| VATSIKOPOULOS: They like to meet at the beachfront cafe run by Maria Variyianni and her partner Thalia. . | 06:15 |
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| MARIA: Maybe you’d like some of the fresh stuff?... Some of this ?(boobs) | 06:22 |
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| VATSIKOPOULOS: Maria Variyianni is a Lesbian Lesbian.
| 06:27 |
| Maria | MARIA: I am two in one, I’m both a Lesbian and a lesbian and I’m proud to be able to say it publicly. | 06:32 |
| Women on beach | Music | 06:37 |
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| VATSIKOPOULOS: For all these women Lesbos is not just any island. Sappho’s birthplace is their spiritual home. They're not just having a holiday, they’re on an annual pilgrimage. | 06:40 |
| Maria | MARIA VARIYIANNI: You feel comfortable, you feel good as if you’ve built a place….a city just for you. | 06:58 |
| Sandra | SANDRA: The only place where I feel like I’m a really, really normal human being, and everybody’s a lesbian here. I don’t have to care or to think about maybe she’s straight or not like. Or there’s someone watching or the police is coming or something like that. This is why I’m here, I can kiss my girlfriend on the beach and it doesn’t matter. | 07:04 |
| Lambrou | DIMITRIS LAMBROU: Listen, these ladies are pursuing their rights and I’m all for it. They can come to Lesbos, marry and do what they like. But this is something different. They have taken… stolen our right to our ethnic and geographical identity, and made it their own. | 07:30 |
| Musicians play in restaurant | Music | 07:59 |
| Lesbos ocean scenery | VATSIKOPOULOS: Tourist numbers have been low lately, a high euro hasn’t helped. But what is now beginning to help is the Lesbian court case. It has brought the island international publicity it could never afford to have bought. | 08:09 |
| Joanna. Super: | JOANNA SAVVA: We have to thank Mr Lambrou because women and gay women they do not know that there was a place on this planet called Skala Erresos. | 08:24 |
| Seaside restaurant | Music | 08:35 |
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| VATSIKOPOULOS: Lesbos, Joanna Savva believes, can be to Lesbians what Mykonos is to homosexual men. Just give it a bit more publicity. | 08:43 |
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| So stay tuned when Lesbian versus Lesbian reconvenes for another round. | 05:86 |
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| Music | 09:01 |
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| Reporter: Helen Vatsikopoulos Camera: David Martin Editor: Ben Nunney Research: Eleni Bertes Producer: Vivien Altman | 09:12 |