LGBT rights activist Del Martin has died, aged 87. Martin and her wife Phyllis Lyon were the first same-sex couple to marry after California’s court ruling around two months ago, cbs5 reported.

Martin and Lyon were among the founders of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian rights organization [in the US], in San Francisco in 1955.

Over the years they worked for causes including gay rights, advocacy on behalf of battered women and issues facing elderly Americans and wrote three books.

And some more background on the work she did:

Del was a founding member of the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club and the Lyon-Martin Health Services, a primary healthcare program specifically designed for very low-income and uninsured women with HIV.

Del was a true hero in the struggle for LGBT rights and this is indeed a sad lost for all of us.

Some of the reaction on the feministblogosphere:

• Feministe (“She also co-authored several books, one of which, Lesbian/Woman, was read outloud to me by my best friend in her bedroom when I was 13 and was trying to figure out what being queer was all about.”)
• Shakesville (“Sigh… At least she got to marry her love before she passed.”)
• Pam’s House Blend
• Feministing

Posted by Jess McCabe on 27 August 2008, at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)