Del Martin

Del Martin (born May 5, 1921 in San Francisco ; † August 27, 2008 ibid) was an American author, journalist, suffragette and LGBT activist.

Life

Martin was born Dorothy Taliaferro in San Francisco. She attended George Washington High School . Martin then studied journalism at the University of California , Berkeley and at San Francisco State College. Martin received a DA from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality . She married James Martin, from whom she divorced after four years. Their daughter Kendra Mon comes from this marriage .

In the early 1950s, Martin met the American journalist Phyllis Lyon (1924–2020) in Seattle . In 1952 they fell in love, moved to San Francisco together and lived together as partners for over 50 years.

In 1955 Martin founded the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) organization together with Phyllis Lyon and six other lesbian women . This association became the first major lesbian organization in the United States. The club magazine The Ladder was started in 1956. While the first issues were written by Phyllis Lyon, Martin wrote the issues of the magazine from 1960 to 1962. From 1962 the magazine was continued by other authors until it was discontinued in 1970.

Martin stayed with Lyon until the late 1960s on the board of the Daughters of Bilitis organization.

Since 1967 Martin has been involved with Lyon in the National Organization for Women (NOW). Del Martin was the first openly lesbian woman to be elected to the leadership of NOW. She worked to ensure that the suppression of lesbian lifestyles was recognized as a problem for the entire women's movement . In 1971 the NOW passed a corresponding resolution. In 1972, Martin and Lyon and other activists founded the Alice B Toklas Memorial Democratic Club . Established in 1979, Lyon-Martin Women's Health Services were named after Martin and her partner.

In 1972 Martin wrote the book Lesbian / Woman together with Phyllis Lyon . The book covers lesbian life in modern America. In 1973 Martin published the book Love and Liberation with Phyllis Lyon . In the book, Martin writes about lesbian people and sexual freedom. In 1979 Martin wrote the book Battered Wives . In this work Martin turns her attention to domestic violence in US-American relationships.

In 1989, Martin and Lyon joined the Old Lesbians Organizing for Change . In 1995 Martin was invited as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging by Senator Dianne Feinstein and Lyon by Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi .

In 2003, Joan E. Biren made a documentary No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon about the couple Martin and Lyon.

Martin and Lyon married on June 16, 2008

On February 12, 2004 , Martin and Lyon were married in California. The marriage was only legally recognized as a registered partnership by the state of California, although the ceremony at the registry office of the city of San Francisco was initially recognized as a marriage by the city government. The wedding ceremony marked the first homosexual marriage in California and was attended by Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco. On June 16, 2008, Martin and Lyon got married in San Francisco after 56 years of living together. A short time later, on August 27, Del Martin passed away at the age of 87.

Works

• Lesbian / Woman , 1972 (together with Phyllis Lyon ) ( Stonewall Book Award 1972)
• Lesbian Love and Liberation , 1973 (with Phyllis Lyon)
• Battered Wives , 1979
• The Male Batterer: A Treatment Approach (together with Daniel Jay Sonkin and Lenore EA Walker), 1985

literature

• Bullough, Vern L. , Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context , Harrington Park Press, 2002
• Gallo, Marcia M. , Different Daughters: A history of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Birth of the Lesbian Rights Movement , Carroll & Graf, 2006

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mercury News: Lesbian activist Del Martin dies at 87 , Aug. 27, 2008.
2. ^ ^{A b c} Jone Johnson Lewis: Del Martin , About. Archived from the original on May 20, 2006 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved February 11, 2007.  
3. ^ ^{A b c} Del Martin & Phyllis Lyon , The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Religious Archives Network. August 4, 2005. Accessed on February 11, 2007.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   
4. ↑ ^{a b} Kathy Belge: Del Martin , About. Archived from the original on February 13, 2007 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved February 11, 2007.  
5. ↑ Kathy Belge: Phyllis Lyon , About. Archived from the original on February 13, 2007 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved February 11, 2007.  
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Tina Gianoulis: Lyon, Phyllis, and Del Martin , glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. March 4, 2004. Archived from the original on February 16, 2007 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved February 11, 2007.  
7. ↑ n-tv: Yes-words in California
8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• On pre-Stonewall Activism
• The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society