It is just like it sounds.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/30/true_mytilenians/ [theregister.co.uk]

Personally, I think it's a lost cause. In the minds of pretty much everyone, lesbian = female homosexual, not = inhabitant of the island Lesbos. I bet you that Sappho's laughing at them from beyond the grave.

It's pretty hilarious.

Well, "Saphist" is the term that the French use and maybe other Europeans too?
For me, I'm quite happy and comfortable in accepting that people for Lesbos are properly known as Lesbians and that homosexual women are also known by that name. There's no disconnect or problem there, not for me anyway, and never has been.

Eh, Calling Homosexual women "lesbians" is more a popular thing really and that sort of thing changes all the time (whether it takes 100 years or 5), but the people of Lesbos have had that name for a good deal longer. People deciding that the name must now be inextricably linked to female homosexuality are the deluded ones; culture just isn't that static. It changed to be that way from something else, it will change again.

I figured it was the Isle of Lesbos too after reading the title to the thread. I studied Sappho a little, actually.