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Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin (May 5, 1921 – August 27, 2008)<ref name="MARTINDEATH">Template:Cite news</ref> and Phyllis Ann Lyon (November 10, 1924 – April 9, 2020)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="nyt-10apr2020">Template:Cite news</ref> were an American lesbian couple based in San Francisco who were known as feminist and gay-rights activists.<ref name="MARTINDEATH"/>
Martin and Lyon met in 1950, became lovers in 1952, and moved in together on Valentine's Day 1953 in an apartment on Castro Street in San Francisco. They had been together for three years when they cofounded the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) in San Francisco in 1955. This became the first social and political organization for lesbians in the United States and soon had a national reach. They both acted as president and until 1963 successively as editor of The Ladder magazine, which they also founded. They were involved in the DOB until they joined the National Organization for Women (NOW), the first known lesbian couple to do so.
Both women worked to form the Council on Religion and the Homosexual (CRH) at Glide Memorial Methodist Church in northern California to persuade ministers to accept homosexuals into churches. The couple used their influence to decriminalize homosexuality in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They became politically active in San Francisco's first gay political organization, the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club. This group influenced then-mayor Dianne Feinstein to sponsor a citywide bill to outlaw employment discrimination for gays and lesbians. Both women remained politically active, later serving in the White House Conference on Aging in 1995.
They were married on February 12, 2004, in the first same-sex wedding to take place in San Francisco after Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the city clerk to begin providing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> That marriage was voided by the California Supreme Court on August 12, 2004.<ref name="WEDDING"/>
After the California Supreme Court's decision in In re Marriage Cases legalized same-sex marriage in California, the couple married again on June 16, 2008. Theirs was the first same-sex wedding to take place in San Francisco .<ref name="WEDDING">Template:Cite news</ref> Two months later on August 27, 2008, Martin died in San Francisco from complications of an arm bone fracture.<ref name="nyt-27aug2008">Template:Cite news</ref> Lyon died years later on April 9, 2020.<ref name="MARTINDEATH" /><ref name="nyt-10apr2020" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Del MartinEdit
Del Martin was born as Dorothy Louise Taliaferro on May 5, 1921, in San Francisco. She was the first salutatorian to graduate from George Washington High School. She was educated at the University of California, Berkeley and at San Francisco State College, where she studied journalism. She earned a Doctor of Arts degree from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. She was married for four years to James Martin and retained his name after their divorce.<ref name="ABOUT">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="LGBTRAN">Template:Cite news</ref> She had one daughter, Kendra Mon. Martin died on August 27, 2008, at UCSF Hospice in San Francisco, from complications of an arm bone fracture. She was 87 years old.<ref name="MARTINDEATH"/> Her wife, Phyllis, was at her side. San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom ordered that the flags at City Hall be flown at half-staff in her honor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1977, Martin became an associate of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> WIFP is an American nonprofit publishing organization. The organization works to increase communication among women and connect the public with forms of women-based media.Template:Citation needed
Martin was also one of the founders of the Lesbian Mothers Union.<ref name="GuyAdams">Template:Cite news</ref>
Phyllis LyonEdit
Template:Infobox person Phyllis Lyon was born on November 10, 1924, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.<ref name="ABOUTLYON">Template:Cite news</ref> She held a degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, earned in 1946. During the 1940s, she worked as a reporter for the Chico Enterprise-Record, and during the 1950s, she worked as part of the editorial staff of two Seattle magazines.<ref name="LGBTRAN"/>
On June 26, 2015, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal, the 90-year-old Lyon "laughed and laughed when told the news. 'Well how about that?' she said. 'For goodness' sakes.'"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She died on April 9, 2020, at the age of 95.<ref name="nyt-10apr2020" />
Background/marriageEdit
Martin and Lyon met in Seattle in 1950 when they began working for the same magazine. They became lovers in 1952 and entered into a partnership in 1953 when they moved to San Francisco together.<ref name="ABOUT"/><ref name="LGBTRAN"/><ref name="ABOUTLYON" /> Many years later, Lyon and Martin recalled how they learned to live together in 1953. "We really only had problems our first year together. Del would leave her shoes in the middle of the room, and I'd throw them out the window", said Lyon, to which Martin responded, "You'd have an argument with me and try to storm out the door. I had to teach you to fight back."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On February 12, 2004, Martin and Lyon were issued a marriage license by the City and County of San Francisco after mayor Gavin Newsom ordered that marriage licenses be given to same-sex couples who requested them.<ref name="GLBTQSS">Template:Cite news</ref>
The license, along with those of several thousand other same-sex couples, was voided by the California Supreme Court on August 12, 2004.<ref name="nyt-10apr2020" />
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Del is 83 years old and I am 79. After being together for more than 50 years, it is a terrible blow to have the rights and protections of marriage taken away from us. At our age, we do not have the luxury of time.{{#if:Phyllis Lyon|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
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However, they were married again on June 16, 2008, after the California Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal.<ref name="nyt-27aug2008" /> Once again they were the first couple married in San Francisco, in fact the only couple married that day by the mayor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
ActivismEdit
Daughters of BilitisEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 1955, Martin and Lyon and six other lesbian women formed the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), the first national lesbian organization in the United States.<ref name="nyt-10apr2020" /><ref name="cnn-10apr2020">Template:Cite news</ref> Lyon was the first editor of DOB's newsletter, The Ladder, beginning in 1956. Martin took over editorship of the newsletter from 1960 to 1962. She was succeeded by other editors until the newsletter ended its connection with the Daughters of Bilitis in 1970.<ref name="ABOUT"/><ref name="LGBTRAN"/>
Within five years of its origin, the Daughters of Bilitis had chapters around the country, including Chicago, New York, New Orleans, San Diego, Los Angeles, Detroit, Denver, Cleveland and Philadelphia. There were 500 subscribers to The Ladder but far more readers, as copies were circulated among women who were reluctant to put their names to a subscription list.<ref name="GLBTQSS" /> For their pioneering work on The Ladder, Martin and Lyon were among the first inductees into the LGBT Journalists Hall of Fame, which was established in 2005 by the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. Lyon and Martin remained involved in the DOB until the late 1960s. The Daughters of Bilitis, which had taken a conservative approach to helping lesbians deal with society, disbanded in 1970 due to the rise of more radical activism.<ref name="GLBTQSS" />
National Organization for WomenEdit
Martin and Lyon were active in the National Organization for Women (NOW) since 1967. Del Martin was the first open lesbian elected to the board of directors of NOW.<ref name="nyt-10apr2020" /><ref name="vogue-5may2017">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="lg-pedia">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1970, she signaled in an essay the split of lesbian feminists from the male-dominated gay rights movement, characterizing the leaders of that movement as "hollow men of self-proclaimed privilege. They neither speak for us nor to us."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Lyon and Martin worked to combat the homophobia they perceived in NOW, and encouraged the National Board of Directors of NOW's 1971 resolution that lesbian issues were feminist issues.<ref name="GLBTQSS"/>
San Francisco Commission on the Status of WomenEdit
In 1977 "Del" Martin was the first openly gay woman to be appointed to the SFCOSW by then Mayor George R. Moscone.<ref name="vogue-5may2017" /><ref name="lg-pedia" /> Martin joined forces with other minority SFCOSW Commissioners, such as Kathleen Hardiman Arnold (now Kathleen Rand Reed), and Ella Hill Hutch, the first Black woman to be elected to the Board of Supervisors, to focus on the nexus of gay women's rights and racial and ethnic discrimination. In their later work with a health clinic, Martin and Lyon focused, for instance, on the specific health and issues affecting Black and Latina gay women. Martin was ahead of her time in understanding the cultural aspects of gay health.Template:Citation needed
Alice B. Toklas Democratic ClubEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Lyon and Martin were both active in San Francisco's first gay political organization, the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, named after San Francisco-born author Alice B. Toklas.<ref name="nbc-9ap2020">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="kqed-9apr2020">Template:Cite news</ref>
Lyon-Martin Health ServicesEdit
Lyon-Martin Health Services was founded in 1979<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> by a group of medical providers and health activists as a clinic for lesbians who lacked access to non-judgmental and affordable health care. Named after Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, the clinic soon became a model for culturally-sensitive community-based health care. Since 1993, Lyon-Martin also has provided case management and primary healthcare in programs specifically designed for very low-income and uninsured women with HIV, as well as services for transgender people.<ref name="bar-4apr2018">Template:Cite news</ref>
Senior activistsEdit
In 1989, Martin and Lyon joined Old Lesbians Organizing for Change. In 1995 they were named delegates to the White House Conference on Aging, Martin by Senator Dianne Feinstein and Lyon by Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, both from California.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
BibliographyEdit
Books are written by both Martin and Lyon except where noted:
- Lesbian/Woman (1972), about lesbian life in modern America
- Lesbian Love and Liberation (1973), about lesbians and sexual liberty
- Battered Wives (1979), by Martin, blamed American domestic violence on institutionalized misogyny<ref name="GLBTQSS"/>
LegacyEdit
Documentary filmsEdit
In 2003 filmmaker JEB (Joan E. Biren) released a documentary film on the couple, No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, available from Frameline.<ref name="frame-secret">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The 1993 documentary Last Call at Maud's also featured Martin and Lyon.<ref name="frame-maud">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
HonorsEdit
In 2014, Martin was one of the inaugural honorees in the Rainbow Honor Walk, a walk of fame in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood noting LGBTQ people who have "made significant contributions in their fields."<ref name=":022">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In June 2019, Martin was one of the inaugural fifty American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted and listed on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument in New York City's Stonewall Inn.<ref name=":23">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="SDGLN">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Monument is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In June 2020, Lyon was added to the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor.<ref name=":wct3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Popular cultureEdit
Rosie O'Donnell plays Martin and Maddie Corman plays Lyon in the miniseries about LGBT rights called When We Rise.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite news</ref>
Season 3, episode 7 of the podcast Making Gay History is about Martin and Lyon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Shannon Purser plays Martin and Heather Matarazzo plays Lyon in the HBO Max series Equal, formally announced on August 24, 2020.
Archival sourcesEdit
The extensive records of Lyon and Martin's professional and activist pursuits, including the administrative files of the Daughters of Bilitis, are preserved at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. The collection is fully processed and is available for use by researchers. The Online Archive of California (a project of the California Digital Library) offers the complete finding aid.<ref name="oac-lyon-martin">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
- Bullough, Vern L. (ed.) Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context, Harrington Park Press, 2002.
- Gallo, Marcia M. Different Daughters: A History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Rise of the Lesbian Rights Movement, Carroll & Graf, 2006; Seal Press, 2007.
External linksEdit
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