Shortly after the LAGAR meeting ended, I learned that Del Martin, the pioneering San Francisco lesbian activist, had died earlier that day. Martin and Phyllis Lyon, her partner of almost sixty years, were the founders the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian advocacy group in the United States.
Martin and Lyon were married in San Francisco in 2004, were plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led the California Supreme Court to overturn the same-sex marriage ban, and they were the first same-sex couple to be married in San Francisco after the court's ruling took effect.
My heart goes out to Lyon.
The Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin Papers are held by the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco.
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