Lesbian Couple, Together for 50 Years, to be First Married in San Francisco Again
Wednesday 11th June 2008
On Valentine’s Day 53 years ago Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 83, moved into a small apartment on Castro Street in San Francisco and began life as a couple together.
Four years ago they were the first lesbian couple married when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom briefly legalized same-sex weddings in the city. The present may soon repeat the past, as Mayor Newsom plans to allow the two women to once again be the first same-sex couple to legally marry in the city of San Francisco.
The couple will wed in a special ceremony this Monday. The city will begin issuing licenses after 5 pm that day, although the other residents of the city will have to wait until the 17th to get theirs and only these two will be able to get married the 16th. That will ensure that Martin and Lyons’ marriage is one again a special symbol of gay marriage everywhere.
Newsom said: “What we want, the narrative coming out of it, is about them and what they represent - their story, their history. This is really where it all started."
The couple became icons after the photograph of their 2004 wedding allegedly changed minds about same-sex marriage throughout the country. Lyon and Martin met in Seattle in 1950 before moving in together in 1953. In 1955 they helped found the Daughters of Bilitis, the first official lesbian organization in the United States.
Kate Kendell, the director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, credits their activism with bringing LGBT rights to where they are today. Kendell said: "At a time when being openly gay cost you everything you cared about, they were. And they took risks and spoke out from the 1950s on in a way that I certainly do not believe I would have nor would most of us.”
For their part, Lyon and Martin are just happy to see the day same-sex marriage was legalized, although Lyon called it heartwarming that the city wants the couple to be the first to marry. "Hundreds of thousands of couples will be getting married this time, and that's the important thing," Lyon said. "It's something that has been due for a long time, and thank god, it's here."
by Robert Knox
Four years ago they were the first lesbian couple married when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom briefly legalized same-sex weddings in the city. The present may soon repeat the past, as Mayor Newsom plans to allow the two women to once again be the first same-sex couple to legally marry in the city of San Francisco.
The couple will wed in a special ceremony this Monday. The city will begin issuing licenses after 5 pm that day, although the other residents of the city will have to wait until the 17th to get theirs and only these two will be able to get married the 16th. That will ensure that Martin and Lyons’ marriage is one again a special symbol of gay marriage everywhere.
Newsom said: “What we want, the narrative coming out of it, is about them and what they represent - their story, their history. This is really where it all started."
The couple became icons after the photograph of their 2004 wedding allegedly changed minds about same-sex marriage throughout the country. Lyon and Martin met in Seattle in 1950 before moving in together in 1953. In 1955 they helped found the Daughters of Bilitis, the first official lesbian organization in the United States.
Kate Kendell, the director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, credits their activism with bringing LGBT rights to where they are today. Kendell said: "At a time when being openly gay cost you everything you cared about, they were. And they took risks and spoke out from the 1950s on in a way that I certainly do not believe I would have nor would most of us.”
For their part, Lyon and Martin are just happy to see the day same-sex marriage was legalized, although Lyon called it heartwarming that the city wants the couple to be the first to marry. "Hundreds of thousands of couples will be getting married this time, and that's the important thing," Lyon said. "It's something that has been due for a long time, and thank god, it's here."
by Robert Knox
