Del Martin & Phyllis Lyon

#DelMartin (May 5, 1921 – August 27, 2008) and #PhyllisLyon (November 10, 1924 – April 9, 2020): Martin was born in San Francisco and pursued a degree in journalism. Lyon was born in Oklahoma and during the 1940s and 1950s worked as a journalist after obtaining her degree at UCBerkeley. Both women met in 1950 when they started working for the same magazine, gradually becoming lovers by 1952. In 1955, they and six other lesbian women formed the #DaughtersOfBilitis, the first national lesbian organization in the United States. By 1960, their organization had chapters around the country with nearly 500 subscribers to their newsletter (though many more would just be readers for fear of being outed by their mail carriers). The Daughters of Bilitis took a far more conservative approach to lesbian issues and disbanded by 1970 as more women took part in more radical activism. Some had already joined the #NationalOrganizationForWomen (#NOW), and Martin and Lyon had been early members of the group. Together they worked to combat homophobia within the organization as well as fight to voice their own concerns as lesbians (they felt that there was too much focus on gay men and not enough on lesbians). In 1977, Martin became the first openly gay woman to be appointed to the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women, and together with Lyon they worked to establish health clinics that would focus on the needs of lesbians and specific issues affecting Black and Latin-x women. #LyonMartinHealthServices, which works to ensure the best care for LGBTQ+ people and those living with HIV was named in their honor. On February 12, 2004, Martin and Lyon were married, but their marriage license was revoked by the California Supreme Court that August. In 2008, they became married again after marriage equality was legalized in the state. Two months later, Martin died from complications from an arm fracture and Lyon joined her 12 years later. #PrideMonth #LGBTQIA #LGBTQIAPride #Pride🌈 #LegendsOfPride #YouCannotEraseUs