Lesbian activist Martin dead at 87
Aug. 27th, 2008 04:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purleweLesbian activist Martin dead at 87
Posted: 03:37 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) — Lesbian activist Del Martin, at the forefront of the battle for same-sex marriage in California, died Wednesday in San Francisco. She was 87.
Martin’s partner of 55 years, Phyllis Lyon, was by her side at the UCSF hospice, the National Center for Lesbian Rights said. Martin and Lyon, 84, tied the knot on June 16 in a ceremony officiated by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
Long before Massachusetts and then California legalized same-sex marriage, Lyon and Martin were integral parts of the early movement for lesbian and gay rights.
In 1955, they founded the nation’s first lesbian organization, the Daughters of Bilitis, and launched the first lesbian publication, The Ladder. Martin co-founded the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, and was also a founding member of several other organizations, including the Lesbian Mother’s Union, the San Francisco Women’s Centers and the Bay Area Women’s Coalition. She and Lyon were co-founders of the first gay political group in the United States, the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, named for author Gertrude Stein’s long-time partner.
Posted: 03:37 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) — Lesbian activist Del Martin, at the forefront of the battle for same-sex marriage in California, died Wednesday in San Francisco. She was 87.
Martin’s partner of 55 years, Phyllis Lyon, was by her side at the UCSF hospice, the National Center for Lesbian Rights said. Martin and Lyon, 84, tied the knot on June 16 in a ceremony officiated by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
Long before Massachusetts and then California legalized same-sex marriage, Lyon and Martin were integral parts of the early movement for lesbian and gay rights.
In 1955, they founded the nation’s first lesbian organization, the Daughters of Bilitis, and launched the first lesbian publication, The Ladder. Martin co-founded the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, and was also a founding member of several other organizations, including the Lesbian Mother’s Union, the San Francisco Women’s Centers and the Bay Area Women’s Coalition. She and Lyon were co-founders of the first gay political group in the United States, the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, named for author Gertrude Stein’s long-time partner.
