>> Del Martin

Del Martin was born Dorothy L. Taliaferro in San Francisco, California, on May 5, 1921, to Jones and Mary Taliaferro. She was salutatorian of the first graduating class of George Washington High School in San Francisco. She studied journalism at the University of California at Berkeley and at San Francisco State College. Her last name was changed to Martin during a four-year marriage to a man; she later changed her first name to Del.

In 1955, Martin was part of a group of eight lesbians that founded the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), in part to counteract the loneliness and isolation they felt as lesbians. Del and her partner, Phyllis Lyon, were among the first out lesbians to join the National Organization for Women (NOW), insisting on the couple's membership rate. They helped lead efforts at the 1971 and 1973 NOW conventions to adopt resolutions that linked the oppression of lesbians with feminist issues. Martin was the first out lesbian elected to the NOW board.
 
In 1972, Lyon and Martin wrote and had published Lesbian/Woman, a ground-breaking book that portrayed lesbian lives in a positive, affirming way. Martin wrote Battered Wives in 1976, that served as a catalyst for the organizing movements against domestic violence and networks of shelters for battered women.
 
Del was a leader in the campaign that resulted in the 1973 decision of the American Psychiatric Association to declare that homosexuality was not a mental illness. A documentary film about their lives, No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, directed by JEB (Joan E. Biren) was premiered as part of their 50th anniversary celebration on February 13, 2003.  Phyllis and Del marked another historic first one year later, when they became the first same-sex couple to officially get a marriage license in San Francisco on February 12, 2004.

POSTSCRIPT:  Del Martin died on August 27, 2008, 2 months after she and long time partner,
Phyllis Lyon, were able to legally wed in San Francisco.  Del was age 87 and had been an activist
for lesbian rights for over 50 years.  Rest in peace, Del, and thank you!

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