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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.
Phyllis Lyon, left, and Del Martin, at home in 2004, founded the nation's first lesbian organization.
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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 June 16 in a ceremony officiated by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
"Ever since I met Del 55 years ago, I could never imagine a day would
come when she wouldn't be by my side. I am so lucky to have known her,
loved her and been her partner in all things," Lyon said. "I also never
imagined there would be a day that we would actually be able to get
married.
"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."
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. They met in 1950 in Seattle, Washington, where they
worked as editors of construction trade publications. They fell in
love, moving in together on Valentine's Day 1953.
Martin fought
to have the American Psychological Society declare that homosexuality
is not a mental illnesses and advocated on behalf of battered women.
In 1955, the couple founded the nation's first lesbian organization,
the Daughters of Bilitis, and launched the first lesbian publication,
The Ladder.
In the 1960s, they tried to get California
lawmakers to introduce anti-discrimination bills and persuaded some
police officers to stop harassing gays and lesbians at bars as part of
a group Martin co-founded called the Council on Religion and the
Homosexual.
Martin 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.
After she and Lyon were the first lesbians to
join the National Organization for Women with the couples' membership
rate, Martin was the first open lesbian to be elected to NOW's
board of directors. From that spot, she was instrumental in guiding the
organization to pass a resolution recognizing lesbian issues as
feminist issues.
Martin and Lyon were delegates to the White
House Conference on Aging in 1991, named to it by Sen. Dianne Feinstein
and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, both of California.
Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, called Martin "a real hero."
"For all of Del's life, she was an activist and organizer even before
we knew what those terms meant," Kendell said. "Her last act of public
activism was her most personal: marrying the love of her life after 55
years.
"In the wake of losing her, we recognize with heightened
clarity the most poignant and responsible way to honor her legacy is to
preserve the right of marriage for same-sex couples, thereby providing
the dignity and respect that Del and Phyllis' love deserved."
In
2003, lesbian filmmaker Joan E. Biren released "No Secret Anymore: The
Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon," a 57-minute documentary focusing
on the couple's activism and relationship.
That year, the couple
spoke to The Noe Valley Voice, a newspaper covering their San Francisco
neighborhood, about the film and their drive to advance the rights of
lesbians.
"We wanted our full rights and responsibilities," Martin told the Voice.
Lyon said she and Martin had no particular secret on how to keep a relationship going for decades.
"If we had a secret, we would have written a book and made a million
dollars," Lyon told the Voice. "We love each other; we have similar
interests. Our lives were very similar even before we met."
In
2004, San Francisco officials allowed gay couples in the city to wed,
prompting a flood of applicants to the City Hall clerk's office. The
officials chose Lyon, then 80, and Martin, then 83, to take the first
vows.
The state Supreme Court voided those unions. Lyon and
Martin, however, joined more than 20 other couples as plaintiffs in a
lawsuit challenging the state's marriage laws.
On My 15, the
California Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on same-sex
marriage, paving the way for Lyon and Martin and other same-sex couples
to marry in the state.
A standing-room only crowd at San Francisco's City Hall on June 16 saw Lyon and Martin, in a wheelchair, take their vows.
"This is an extraordinary moment in history," Newsom said. "I think today, marriage as an institution has been strengthened."
Del Martin identified her own legacy in 1984 when she said that her
most important contribution was "being able to help make changes in the
way lesbians and gay men view themselves and how the larger society
views lesbians and gay men."
In addition to
Lyon, Martin is survived by daughter Kendra Mon, son-in-law Eugene
Lane, granddaughter Lorraine Mon, grandson Kevin Mon and sister-in-law
Patricia Lyon.
