Phyllis Lion & Del Martin

Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin were trailblazing lesbian activists and the first gay couple to be married by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004. In 1955 they helped form the Daughters of Bilitis in San Francisco, the nation’s first lesbian rights group. The Daughters of Bilitis helped organize the 1965 Mardi Gras ball that was raided by city police. Their countless contributions to the movement include Del’s leadership in the campaign that resulted in the 1973 decision of the American Psychiatric Association to declare that homosexuality was not a mental illness.