# Del Martin Born May 5, 1921 in San Francisco; died August 27, 2008 in San Francisco. With her partner of 55 years, **[[Phyllis Lyon]]**, Martin co-founded the **[[Daughters of Bilitis]]** on September 21, 1955 — the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. ## Lifelong Organizing Martin and Lyon's organizing career spans more than five decades: - **DOB founder and longtime president** — running the organization out of their San Francisco home through the 1950s and 1960s - **Editor, *The Ladder*** — the first nationally distributed American lesbian magazine (Martin served 1960–1962) - **National Organization for Women** — Martin was the first openly lesbian woman elected to NOW's national board (1973), at a time when the mainstream feminist movement was actively distancing itself from lesbian visibility ("the Lavender Menace" controversy) - **First book on lesbian feminism** — Martin and Lyon's *Lesbian/Woman* (1972) was the first popular nonfiction book about lesbian life written by lesbians for a general audience - **Domestic-violence pioneer** — Martin's 1976 book *Battered Wives* was one of the first nationally distributed treatments of domestic violence as a feminist political issue ## The Marriages Martin and Lyon were the **first same-sex couple to be married in San Francisco** when Mayor [[Gavin Newsom]] briefly authorized same-sex marriage licenses on February 12, 2004 (their marriage was subsequently voided by the California Supreme Court). When the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage statewide in *In re Marriage Cases* (2008), Martin and Lyon were again the **first same-sex couple legally married in California** — on June 16, 2008. Martin died two months later. The 2004 and 2008 weddings were intentional political theater on the part of the city and the couple. Martin was 87 at the 2008 wedding; the optics — an 87-year-old lesbian elder finally able to legally marry her partner of 55 years — were politically devastating to the opposition. --- ## See Also - [[Queer Liberation Ecosystem]] - [[Queer Liberation Timeline]] - [[Daughters of Bilitis]] - [[Phyllis Lyon]]