RIP, Del Martin

Del Martin, left, and Phyllis Lyon

Legal Pad just got word (.pdf) that Del Martin passed away today. While not a lawyer (at least to our knowledge), Del was a huge influence in the LGBT community — and played a prominent part in California’s gay marriage litigation. She and her then-partner, Phyllis Lyon, were chosen to be the first couple to tie the knot during San Francisco’s renegade 2004 same-sex weddings. They both became name plaintiffs (.pdf) in the litigation that finally ended in May, with the state Supreme Court OKing gay marriage in California. So they got to marry again, for real in the eyes of the law, in mid-June.

That's just one part of Martin's legacy. From the Wikipedia entry on her and Lyon:

Martin and Lyon met in 1950, became lovers in 1952, and moved in together on Valentines Day 1953 in an apartment on Castro Street in San Francisco. They had been together for three years when they founded the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) in San Francisco in 1955, that became the first social and political organization for lesbians in the United States. They both acted as president and editor of The Ladder until 1963, and remained involved in the DOB until joining the National Organization for Women (NOW) as the first lesbian couple to do so.

This is the second local longtime couple we’ve written about that, thanks to the May ruling, got to become wife-and-wife before time ran out.

—  Pam Smith