Del Martin & Phyllis Lyon

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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.”




Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin (1921 – 2008) and Phyllis Ann Lyon (1924 –2020) were a lesbian couple, feminists, and gay-rights activists. They met at work at magazine company in 1950 and became lovers in 1952, moving in together a year later.




After three years together, they cofounded the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) in San Francisco, the first social and political organization for lesbians in the United States. The organization spread nationwide within five years. Their magazine, The Ladder, had 500 subscribers – but probably considerably more readers as many were ashamed to put their name to a subscription. Their revolutionary work on The Ladder earned both Martin and Lyon honours in the LGBT Journalists Hall of Fame. Lyon and Martin remained involved in the DOB until the late 1960s, although the somewhat conservative approach of the DOB resulted in its disbandment in the 1970s as more radical activism took over.






In 1967, they became the first lesbian couple to join the National Organization for Women (NOW). Del was the first open lesbian elected to NOW’s board of directors. Lyon and Martin faced homophobia within the organization and fought this by campaigning for the 1971 resolution issued by NOW claiming that lesbian issues were feminist issues. Martin joined forces with other minority SFCOSW Commissioners such as the first Black woman to be elected to the Board of Supervisors, Ella Hill Hutch, to focus on the nexus of gay women's rights and racial and ethnic discrimination – showing the importance of intersectionality when it comes to civil rights across communities.

In their later work with a health clinic, Martin and Lyon further focussed 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. Lyon-Martin Health Services, named after the couple, was founded in 1979 providing medical support for lesbians who lacked access to non-judgmental and affordable health care – becoming ‘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.






Both women helped for the Council on Religion and the Homosexual (CRN) in California which persuaded ministers to accept homosexuals into churches. They also used their influence to fight for the decrimilization of homosexuality in the late 1960s. They became politically active in San Francisco's first gay political organization, the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, which influenced then-mayor Dianne Feinstein to sponsor a citywide bill to outlaw employment discrimination for gays and lesbians. In 1989, Martin and Lyon joined Old Lesbians Organizing for Change.

Del and Phyllis were married in February 2004 - 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. However, that marriage – along with thousands of others - was voided by the California Supreme Court on August 12, 2004.








However, they married again on June 16, 2008, in the first same-sex wedding to take place in San Francisco after the California Supreme Court's decision legalized same-sex marriage in California.






Two months after their second wedding, Martin died from complications of an arm bone fracture in San Francisco. Lyon died on April 9, 2020.




Del and Pyhllis’ story is beautiful in many ways. Not only is it a beautifully enduring love that survived persecution and fought for legal recognition, they showed amazing courage and dedication in refusing to settle for the “1950s house-wife life”. They championed the case of homosexual Christians who have historically (and continue to be) excluded from traditional churches. They saved countless lives in their innovative approach to healthcare – something which with the repeal of similar rights for trans people in the US today is something that must be noted for its importance decades ago. but they were a formidable team who used their experience and influence to work for a more just society for women, lesbians, and other oppressed minorities such as the black and Latina communities. They are a testament to patience paying off, and to the importance of standing up for one’s rights and of intersectionality in activism.

You can hear their story in their own words at: https://makinggayhistory.com/podcast/phyllis-lyon-del-martin/ 

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