For more information:
Chip Alfred
(215) 732-3378, ext. 116
chip@equalityforum.com

For Immediate Release ­- August 27, 2008

Equality Forum Mourns Civil Rights Activist Del Martin
Del Martin to be Honored as an Icon of GLBT History Month 2008

“Equality Forum mourns Del Martin. Her life helps define the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights movement, from co-founding in 1955 the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian organization in the United States, to becoming with Phyllis Lyon in June, 2008 the first legally married same-sex couple in California,” stated Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director of Equality Forum. 

Martin and her partner Phyllis Lyon co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis. The nation’s first lesbian organization published The Ladder, the first-ever lesbian magazine.

Del Martin was born on May 5, 1921 in San Francisco. She met her life partner Phyllis Lyon in 1950. On June 16, 2008, after being together for 56 years, Martin and Lyon were the first same-sex couple legally married in California.

Martin was a leading feminist and civil rights activist.  She wrote “Battered Women,” a book about domestic violence, and with Lyon co-authored two books. She was the first out lesbian elected to the National Organization for Women (NOW), and was a founding member of the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian/Gay Democratic Club. 

In 1964, Martin and Lyon joined religious and gay community leaders to form the Council on Religion and the Homosexual (CRH), which was at the forefront of the movement to gain religious support on gay rights issues.

On October 1, 2008, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon will be the first couple honored as an Icon of GLBT History Month 2008. There will be a video, biography, downloadable images, bibliography, and other resources about Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon available at www.glbtHistoryMonth.com.

Equality Forum is a national and international GLBT civil rights organization with an educational focus. Equality Forum undertakes high impact initiatives, coordinates GLBT History Month, produces documentary films and presents the largest annual national and international GLBT civil rights forum.

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