Civil rights pioneer Phyllis Lyon, who was among the first same-sex couples to marry in California in 2008, has died at her San Francisco home. She was 95.
Lyon lived life with “joy and wonder,” said Kate Kendell, a friend and former executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Lyon and her wife, Del Martin, were activists and mentors long before there was a movement or community, Kendell said.
“Before cell phones they always had their phone number listed in the phone book in case any young or terrified LGBTQ person needed help or support and they fielded dozens of calls over the years,” she said.
Lyon died on Thursday of natural causes, she said.
Lyon was a journalist who met Martin while working at a magazine in Seattle. They moved to San Francisco in 1953. They cofounded with others the Daughters of Bilitis, a political and social organization.
California Governor Gavin Newsom referenced her death at his daily briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic, calling her one of his heroes.
Newsom was a newly elected mayor of San Francisco in 2004 when he challenged California’s marriage laws by issuing licenses to same-sex couples. His advisers suggested Lyon and Martin to be the public face of the movement.
They exchanged vows before a tiny group of city staff members and friends, reports said at the time.
Later that year, the California Supreme Court voided the unions before overturning the state’s ban on gay marriage in 2008. They wed again, among the first couples to do so in the state. Del Martin died weeks after their second wedding at age 87.
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