V's Version

Del Martin (born May 5, 1921) and Phyllis Lyon (born Novermber 10, 1924) are an American lesbian couple known as feminist and gay-rights activists. They were married on June 16, 2008 in the first same-sex wedding to take place after the California Supreme Court's decision in "Re: Marriage Cases" that legalized same sex marriages in California.

Del Martin was born Dorothy Taliaferro in San Francisco. She was salutatorian of her class, the first to graduate from George Washington High School. She was educated at the University of California at Berkeley and at San Francisco State College, where she studied journalism, and she has a D.A. from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. She was married for four years to James Martin, whose name she retained after their divorce. She has one daughter, Kendra Mon.

Phyllis Lyon was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of California at 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.

Marriage

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 formal partnership in 1953 when they moved to San Francisco together although unable to legally marry. 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."

On February 12, 2004, Martin and Lyon were issued a marriage license by the City of San Francisco after mayor Gavin Newson ordered that marriage licenses be given to same-sex couples who requested them. Photo here. The license, along with those of several thousand other same-sex couples were voided by the CA Supreme Court on August 12, 2004.

However, they were married again yesterday, after the CA Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal. Once again they were the first couple married in San Francisco, in fact the only couple married that day by the mayor.

Note from me:

Even with this legal CA wedding, in the almost certain event that one of them should die before the other, the widow will NOT be eligible for the social security benefits of the deceased like a heterosexual widow would be because the federal government still discriminates. Thanks a lot.

Daughters of Bilitis

In 1955 , Martin and Lyon and six other lesbian women formed the Daughters of Bilitis, the first major lesbian organization in the United States. Lyon was the first editor of DOB's newsletter, The Ladder (Magazine), beginning in 1956 . Martin took over editorship of the newsletter from 1960 to 1962, and was then replaced by other editors until the newsletter ended its connection with the DOB in 1970.

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.

Lyon and Martin remained leaders of the DOB until the late 1960s, when they were replaced by women who were perceived as more radical and who had different goals for the organization. The Daughters of Bilitis disbanded not long after Martin and Lyon's leadership ended.

National Organization for Women

Martin and Lyon have been active in the National Organization for Women (NOW) since 1967. Del Martin was the first openly lesbian woman elected to NOW. 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.