Sadly, another lovely lesbian couple recently married didn't make it much past their two-month anniversary. Author and community leader Dorothy "Del" Martin － who with her longtime lover, Phyllis Lyon, were the first same-sex couple to legally marry in San Francisco － died August 27th following years of declining health.
Martin, 87, and Lyon, 83, [above, L & R respectively, at their nuptials] had been partners and activists together for a half-century. They met in 1950 working as journalists for the same trade publication, became a couple in 1952 and formalized their relationship on Valentine's Day, 1953, by moving in together. In 1955, they bought the small San Fran house they've called home since.
Together, Martin and Lyon founded America's first public and political lesbian rights organization, the Daughters of Bilitis (named for an obscure book of lesbian love poetry), and the first gay political club in the U.S., the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club. Martin helped found many other groundbreaking groups, including the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, the Lesbian Mother's Union, the Coalition for Justice for Battered Women, the San Francisco Women's Centers, the Bay Area Women's Coalition and the California Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She was the first open lesbian to serve as board member for the National Organization for Women, and she and Lyon both served as delegates on the White House Conference on Aging.
A San Francisco native, Del Martin was salutatorian of the first graduating class of George Washington High School, studied journalism at the University of California at Berkley and at San Francisco State University, and earned her doctorate at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.
Martin and Lyon wed June 16th at San Francisco's City Hall, with Mayor Gavin Newsom officiating.
The newly widowed Lyon commented, "I am devastated, but I take some solace in knowing we were able to enjoy the ultimate rite of love and commitment before she passed."
1 comment:
The pioneering spirit of Del Martin and her beloved, Phyllis Lyon, is so appreciated by so many of us. I'm glad they were able to have a wedding and receive the state-sanctioned recognition of a lifetime commitment to one another. May light perpetual shine upon her.
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