Celebrating Phyllis Lyon, Rainbow Honor Walk honoree
Today on the anniversary of her birth, we celebrate the life and legacy of Rainbow Honor Walk honoree Phyllis Ann Lyon (November 10, 1924 – April 9, 2020). On Sunday, November 15 her plaque will be installed on 19th Street in San Francisco’s Castro District next to one honoring her wife, Del Martin.
A pioneering lesbian activist, journalist, feminist, and champion of LGBTQ+ equality, Lyon and her longtime partner Del Martin co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis in San Francisco in 1955, the nation’s first national lesbian rights organization. Together, they launched The Ladder, a groundbreaking lesbian publication, and spent decades advocating for civil rights, women’s equality, and LGBTQ+ visibility. In 2004, Lyon and Martin became the first same-sex couple married in San Francisco, and in 2008, they made history again as the first same-sex couple legally married in California. Their extraordinary partnership and lifelong commitment to justice helped transform American society and paved the way for generations to come.
