To be or not to be called a “lesbian?” These days, this is the question that galvanises residents of the famous Greek island Lesbos, who campaign against the term being used to refer to gay women.

The issue was taken to court by three Lesbos residents in attempt to restrict gay rights organisations from using the word, which the islanders have come to perceive as “disgraceful” and an insult to their identity.

“I am Paul and I am a Lesbian,” read a badge worn by a man in the crammed courtroom on June 11, as quoted by Reuters. Later on, he displayed a banner saying “If you are not from Lesbos, you are not a Lesbian.”

The island is the third biggest in Greece, and it is home to 100 000 people. Another quarter of a million expatriates also originated from there. Traditionally, the place is a gathering arena for gay women from all over the world.

One of the arguments the plaintiffs are using is that as a geographic name, the island is being used by the Greece’s gay community for “social action.” The dispute was over identity, not sexuality, they claimed.  Moreover, a witness of the plaintiffs stated in court that the term caused embarrassment to the women of Lesbos, who did not want to call themselves Lesbians for “fear of being considered gay,” Associated Press reported.

Hurling accusations of prejudice, racism and homophobia, activists from the Gay and Lesbian Community of Greece (OLKE) said that “all fears of ridicule are unfounded,” AP said.

"What will they do next, sue the United Nations? They, too, use the term lesbian," said Evangelia Vlami, a spokeswoman for OLKE as quoted by the AP. Vlami, who was part of the first Greek lesbian marriage initiated last week, also added that "Millions of men and women, irrespective of their sexual preferences, use the term as a designation of sexual orientation."

The court hearing comes a week after two gay-marriages were facilitated by the mayor of Tilos, a tiny island in the Aegean Sea. A loophole found in a law from 1982 encouraged Greek gay rights groups to argue that the legal text did not say whether a civil union must involve a man and a woman.

The outcry from the Orthodox Greek Church and state institutions came immediately. Greece’s justice minister said that the marriages were illegal and not valid. A conservative bishop was quoted by AP as saying that the weddings were of “humanoid couples.”

The court is expected to deliver a ruling on the case in two to six months.

“You know, I can make an analogy right away with something I recall happened about 10 years ago,” Aksinia Gencheva, an executive director of the Bulgarian gay organisation Gemini, told The Sofia Echo. She told the story of a British woman who wanted to have the word “history” officially taken out of usage for being sexist. Why? Because of the “his” element in it. Gencheva said the commotion created in Greece seemed to her equally ridiculous.

“The word lesbian is not something to be ashamed of,” she said and added that Greece’s revenue from gay tourism amounts to 1.7 billion euro a year, as quoted by Bulgarian news agency bgnes.com. Nobody seems to be complaining about that, Gencheva said.

It is accepted that the term “lesbian” was invented by the Greek poet Sappho, a native of Lesbos. She lived during the 7th century BCE, and crafted love poetry expressing her feelings to other women.

Some say, however, that a new historical research, so far unconfirmed, reveals that Sappho actually had a family and ended her life suffering from unrequited love for a man.