I'm not sure what the link means for you, but in case anyone else assumes its an instance of the same thing you're talking about with your pal, it's not.
They aren't making some bogus etymological argument or even the more common argument that, because man, son, etc. _Mean_ male now (though they didn't way back when), the words can influence our perceptions. (I'm not big on either of these approaches mind you.) But, clearly this site isn't big on them either:
"It became obvious that the only way to insure the preservation of Lesbian culture and HISTORY was to establish an independent archives governed by Lesbians."
it's not a mistake. They use history in the body text of the site at least 24 times: http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial_s&biw=&hl=en&q=site%3Alesbianherstoryarchives.org+history&btnG=Google+Search
(herstory comes up 30 times, always in terms of the site's name)
As I pointed out the Pug and Thomas offlist, I could only find one story about banning the word "history" and it was at Stockholm college in the UK. I found a slew more references to the story, without attribution and sometimes just to some vague "feminists" (as if all would agree with the move), in various places, opinion columns, blogs, list archives, etc. where people were complaining about that one incident, so much so that you'd think that it was really widespread. I have no idea if it was but when I was in college and grad school, exactly one woman used things like "womyn" and "hir" -- and I was at a feminist department.
It's an excellent instance of what Chip's talking about -- and Carrol, too. The right creates a phantasm for us and then we end up spewing about it right along with them, never asking whether it's true or not, how widespread it is. etc. So, now everyone's lined up against PC -- and no one's bothered to find out if there really are plenty of feminists who support such an argument.
Meanwhile, no one pays attention to what feminists are actually saying. And very few I've read or known make any etymologically based argument about the word history as inherently sexist. IIRC, even Barbara Walker talks about it in terms of the effect constant reading _his_tory in conjunction with all kinds of other sexist practices shapes our perceptions. Maybe someone familiar with Mary Daly can quote her passages on the topic.
Can't bluff someone if they're not paying attention and all that.
"Finish your beer. There are sober kids in India."
-- rwmartin