Dorothy L. (Del) Martin
Longtime civil rights activist Dorothy L. (Del) Martin died on Wednesday, Aug. 27 at UCSF’s Moffitt/Long Hospital. Martin, along with her partner Phyllis Lyon, was a pioneer in advancing lesbian rights.
Del Martin played a key role in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and feminist movements. In one of her last public political acts, Martin married Lyon, her partner of 55 years, this past June. They were the first couple to wed in San Francisco after the California Supreme Court recognized marriage for same-sex couples as a fundamental right.
“Today the LGBT movement lost a real hero,” said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and UCSF National Coming Out Day keynote speaker. “For all of Del’s life, she was an activist and organizer even before we knew what those terms meant. 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.”
UCSF LGBT Center Director Shane Snowdon remembered her personal interaction with the couple and the impact it had on her. “My first encounter with Del and Phyl was when I read Lesbian Woman, which literally changed my life. It was very brave of them to write it--and it took some courage for me to buy it,” said Snowdon. “Those first few books about gay and lesbian life were incredibly meaningful--they inspired thousands and thousands of us to come out and work for gay and lesbian liberation. And their book was only one aspect of their revolutionary activism--it's hard to believe that someone who did so much for so long is gone.”
Born in San Francisco on May 5, 1921, Dorothy L. Taliaferro, or Del as she would later be known, was salutatorian of the first graduating class of George Washington High School and went on to study journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. At 19, after transferring to San Francisco State, she married James Martin and two years later gave birth to their daughter Kendra. The marriage ended in divorce.
Del Martin met the love of her life, Phyllis Lyon, in Seattle in 1950 when they worked for the same publication company. They became lovers in 1952 and formalized their partnership on Valentine’s Day in 1953 when they moved in together in San Francisco. In 1955, they bought the small home that has been theirs ever since.
In what would prove to be historical act, Martin, Lyon, and six other lesbians co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) in San Francisco in 1955. DOB, which was named after an obscure book of lesbian love poetry, was initially organized to provide secret mutual support and social activities. It eventually became the first public and political lesbian rights organization in the United States, laying a foundation for the women’s and lesbian and gay liberation movements that flowered in the early 1970s and continue today.
Del Martin used her writing and speaking talents to challenge misconceptions about gender and sexuality.
In 1964, Del Martin was part of a group that founded the Council on Religion and the Homosexual in order to lobby city lawmakers more effectively to reduce police harassment and modify the sex laws that criminalized homosexual behavior. In later years, Martin was also a founding member of the Lesbian Mother's Union, the San Francisco Women's Centers, and the Bay Area Women's Coalition, among other organizations.
As an early member of the National Organization for Women (NOW), Del Martin worked to counter homophobia within the women’s movement - fear of the so-called “lavender menace.” She and Lyon were the first lesbians to insist on joining with a “couples' membership rate” and Martin was the first out lesbian on NOW's Board of Directors. Their efforts helped to insure the inclusion of lesbian rights on NOW’s agenda in the early 1970's.
Lesbian/Woman, the book they co-authored in 1972, is one of Martin and Lyon's landmark accomplishments. The book described lesbian lives in a positive, knowledgeable way almost unknown at the time. In 1992, Publishers Weekly chose it as one of the 20 most influential women's books of the last 20 years.
For many years, Del Martin was a leader in the campaign to persuade the American Psychiatric Association to declare that homosexuality was not a mental illness. This goal was finally achieved in 1973.
Del Martin's publication of Battered Wives in 1976 was a major catalyst for the movement against domestic violence. Martin became a nationally known advocate for battered women, and was a co-founder of the Coalition for Justice for Battered Women (1975), La Casa de las Madres (a shelter for battered women) founded in 1976, and the California Coalition against Domestic Violence (1977). She lectured at colleges and universities around the country. Martin received her doctorate from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in 1987.
Martin's keen political instincts and interests extended her influence into the mainstream Democratic Party. She and Lyon were co-founders, in 1972, of the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, the first gay political club in the United States. Martin was appointed Chair of the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women in 1976 and served on the committee until 1979. She worked as a member of many other councils and boards including the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women. Throughout the years, many politicians recognized their stature as community leaders and sought advice and endorsement from Martin and Lyon.
In 1979, local health care providers established a clinic to give lesbians in the San Francisco Bay area access to nonjudgmental, affordable health care and named it Lyon-Martin Health Services in honor of Martin and her partner. In 1990, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California awarded the couple with its highest honor, the Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award.
Senator Dianne Feinstein named Martin, and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi named Lyon, as delegates to the White House Conference on Aging, where they made headlines by using their moment at the podium to remind the 125,000 attendees that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people grow old, too, and must be included explicitly in aging policies. The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality gave Martin and Lyon their Outstanding Public Service Award in 1996. They are among the most beloved figures in the LGBT community and have served as Grand Marshals at Pride marches across the nation and been honored by every major LGBT organization in the country.
Del Martin 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."
“We are of course very saddened by the passing of one of our movement’s great leaders,” said Teri McGinnis, executive director, Lyon Martin Clinic. “The community will be diminished by the absence of Del’s voice, her strength and leadership. Her passing strengthens our continuing commitment to providing quality care to those in our community who are marginalized, those who are in need, and those who persist in the struggle for equal rights for all.”
Lyon-Martin Health Services was founded in San Francisco in 1979 by a group of medical providers and health activists as a clinic for lesbians who lacked access to nonjudgmental, affordable health care. Lyon-Martin soon became a model for culturally sensitive community-based health care, and continues to provide care to lesbians, bisexual women, women of color, low-income women, older women, women with disabilities and transgender individuals.
Gifts in lieu of flowers can be made to honor Del’s life and commitment and to defeat the California marriage ban through NCLR’s No On 8 PAC at www.nclrights.org/NoOn8.
A public memorial and tribute celebrating the life of Del Martin will be planned in the next several weeks.
The loss of Martin is being felt throughout the UCSF community. “What a loss to the community, but at the same time, what a beautiful, inspirational life to be celebrated! Hats off to a truly legendary lady, and the deepest of sympathies to her loving wife Phyllis,” said Wilson F. Fang, UCSF Information Technology Operations Manager.
Source: Reuters News Service
