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Lesbians lez it up in Lesbos’ 10th year festival

September marks a decade of the village of Eressos, located on Greece’s island of Lesbos, welcoming lesbians from various parts of Europe to a distinctive international festival for women.

In a nation deeply shaped by the Greek Orthodox church, where approximately half of the population opposes same-sex marriage, this lesbian-run festival has been steadily gaining traction in this Aegean Sea locale.

Over the last ten years, the attendance for the two-week International Women’s Festival has surged from just 30 attendees to several hundred women participants, predominantly from Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia, with representation from Greece and Italy as well.

The packed schedule features an array of activities, including women-only hikes, sunset cruises, breathing and drumming workshops, Greek dance lessons, and screenings of lesbian films.

“I’ve been blown away, there’s no unease at all,” remarks Lauren Bianchi, a Scottish woman in her early 20s who is attending the festival for the first time, despite having read about past tensions between locals and lesbians.
When the festival began in 2000, there was significant tension.

A promotional poster for one of its events resulted in the village mayor’s outrage, who threatened legal action against the organizers and tried to ban the event, declaring his intent to eliminate lesbian tourism from the village.

Fast forward ten years, and the municipal government is now supportive, providing the town hall for one of the festival’s art displays and permitting access to the beach.

“It was all about the economy, and the lesbians responded positively, saying, ‘if you want money, you’ve got it’,” explains Marianthi Lianou, a sociologist from Greece in her 50s, who relocated to Eressos six years ago to explore its small lesbian community.

Lesbian visitors have been flocking to Lesbos since the 1970s, drawn by the island’s link to Sappho, the seventh-century Greek poet known for her love poems about women, who hailed from Eressos.

The Sappho travel agency reports that lesbians currently represent 60 percent of the village’s visitors, which increases to 90 percent during the festival in September.

“My rooms are fully booked for the next two weeks. Typically, September is slow, but now it’s thriving,” shares Andreas, who operates the Sappho cafe bar and rents rooms along the village seafront.

As the ongoing economic crisis tightens its grip, he notes that domestic tourists spent less this summer, making him thankful for the extended season brought in by lesbian tourism.

“The locals have come to accept it, especially the younger generation, but the older residents still discuss it among themselves,” he comments.

Nowadays, it’s the “more conservative” August visitors from Athens who seem uncomfortable with the lesbian attendees, according to Lena Tzigounaki, a Greek woman who moved to Eressos from the capital over 15 years ago.

Tables from her bar extend out onto the main square of the village, under the watchful eye of a large bronze Sappho statue, one of three that have been installed in recent years.

Similar to many lesbian-operated venues in Eressos, the rainbow flag signifying gay pride is prominently displayed above the bar.

“When families from Athens see women together, I can tell they are surprised and shocked, but the locals don’t see anything unusual about women holding hands or kissing,” she observes.

“However, there are still boundaries,” she hastens to add.

In Greece, LGBTQ+ individuals are still lacking many fundamental rights and legal protections that are commonplace in other European nations—they continue their struggle for same-sex marriage recognition, access to IVF, and adoption rights.

While hate speech persists, Greece implemented a law in 2005 aimed at safeguarding employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation, and that same year, Athens hosted the country’s first Gay Pride parade.

Polls indicate a change in public perception: in 2008, just 48.3 percent of Greeks opposed same-sex marriage, a significant drop from 84 percent reported in a European Commission poll in 2006.

Despite these shifts, Greek lesbians still remain “totally invisible” within Greek legislation, states Evangelia Vlami, an activist and founder of the non-governmental organization Lesbians For Equality.

“Without visibility, lesbians do not maintain a strong sense of identity regarding their issues and challenges,” she emphasizes.

Buford Balony says: Can we hold our next Ozzie News conference here, please, Ed?

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