by Evelyn Bailey
A friend of mine, Tilda Hunting, is trying to downsize. In her efforts to accomplish this, she has boxed up a number of books on lesbianism, homosexuality, and the feminist women’s movement. In this collection that she is generously giving to the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley, there were a number of “newsletters” titled The Ladder; copies of a litereary magazine The 13th Moon; a couple of issues of Community, A Publication by Gay People; published bi-monthly by the Capital District Gay Community Council, Albany, New York; and many more “goodies”.
Given our most recent vote in Connecticut for recognition legally of same sex marriages, I decided to peruse these periodicals for a story about the issue of marriage equality. There in the Amazon Quarterly, Vol.3 #2 was an article titled Womanlove by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon.
Now you might ask who are Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon? I asked the same question. I had seen there names mentioned in many articles in these periodicals, but did not know Who These Shoulders Were That We Stand On. Well, sit back, relax and be in awe of these women to whom the gay community owes a debt of gratitude to.
Del Martin was born Dorothy L. Taliaferro on May 5, 1921, 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, 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. 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. 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.
Phyllis Lyon was born November 10, 1924 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She holds 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.
Del and Phyllis 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 in together on Valentines Day 1953 in an apartment on Castro Street in San Francisco. Years later, both 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."
Del and Phyllis had been together for three years when they and six other lesbians formed the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) in San Francisco in 1955. The group's name came from "Songs of Bilitis," a lesbian-themed song cycle by French poet Pierre Louÿs, which described Bilitis as a resident of the Isle of Lesbos alongside Sappho. The Daughters of Bilitis became the first social and political organization for lesbians in the United States.
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. Del and Phyllis both acted as president and editor of The Ladder until 1963.
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.
Del and Phyllis had been active in the National Organization for Women (NOW) since 1967. Del and Phyllis were the first lesbian couple to join NOW and Del was the first openly lesbian woman elected to its board of directors. Phyllis and Del 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.
Del helped spearhead a successful campaign to get the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its roster of mental illnesses.
Both women worked to form the Council of Religion and Homosexuality (CRH) in northern California to persuade ministers to accept homosexuals into churches and use their influence to decriminalize homosexuality in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, named after author Alice B. Toklas, was formed on Valentine's Day 1972 at the offices of the Society for Individual Rights near 6th and Market Streets in San Francisco.
The founding member was James Foster, who was the first gay man to speak at a national political convention. He spoke to the need for inclusion of gays and lesbians in the political process. Though Del and Phyllis were not able to attend this first meeting, they became members soon thereafter. The first motion the club passed was in support of the marijuana initiative. Among the founding members were Gary Miller and Ron Bentley. The purpose of the club is to support candidates who are supportive of gay and lesbian rights and help them get elected to public office.
Among its earlier presidents were Jo Daly and Gary Miller (1975). In 1975 the club endorsed George Moscone for mayor over Dianne Feinstein. The Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club influenced Dianne Feinstein to sponsor a citywide bill to outlaw employment discrimination for gays and lesbians. The club changed its name to the Alice B. Toklas Gay and Lesbian Democratic Club.
In 1995, Sen. Dianne Feinstein named Del as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging, where she and Lyon, a delegate appointed by Pelosi, focused attention on the needs of aging gays and lesbians.
This year, on June 16, Del and her partner of 55 years, Phyllis Lyon, were legally wed. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom officiated. Theirs was among the first same-sex nuptials in California. "Her last act of activism was her most personal – marrying the love of her life," said Kate Kendell, a longtime friend of the couple and executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
"Ever since I met Del 55 years ago, I could never imagine a day would come when she wouldn't be by my side," Lyon, 83, said in a statement. "I am so lucky to have known her, loved her and been her partner in all things.
"I also never imagined there would be a day that we would actually be able to get married," Lyon said. "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."
Del had been in failing health for some time, weakened to the point where she was pushed in a wheelchair to her wedding ceremony. In an interview in her hillside Noe Valley home just days before she took her marriage vows in the mayor's office, Del described as fortunate the timing of the California Supreme Court decision that gave gays and lesbians the right to marry. "We're not getting younger," she said.
Del and Phyllis were plaintiffs in the lawsuit that got the state ban on same-sex marriage lifted. They were married at 5:07 p.m, just minutes after the ruling took effect.
Four years ago, when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom allowed marriage licenses to be issued to gay and lesbian couples in San Francisco in defiance of state law, Ms. Martin and Lyon were the first of about 4,000 same-sex couples to wed and made news internationally. Those marriages were later nullified by the state's high court but paved the way for the successful legal challenge. Newsom, who said Ms. Martin "laid the groundwork for all those who want a life of dignity," ordered the flags at City Hall and the rainbow gay-pride flag at Market and Castro streets to be flown at half-staff until sunset.
"We would never have marriage equality in California if it weren't for Del and Phyllis," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Democrat.
"They fought and triumphed in many battles, beginning when they first bought a home together in San Francisco in 1955." Pelosi called Del’s death "a great loss for me personally and for our entire community."
Feinstein said, "Del and Phyllis were a loving couple, cherished by an entire community. They inspired so many, young and old."