Can you imagine devoting more than 50 years building and nourishing a relationship and a home with the one person you love, your best friend, your partner in crime, your sidekick, the one person who truly knows you and who loves and accepts you "as is", the one who is the last person you want to see at night before you drift off to sleep and the first person you want to see when you wake, the one person who thinks you're beautiful even after time has changed you, the one person you turn to for comfort and the one you rush to to share joy, the one person you choose to love and hold ti

ght even when they push your every last button and drive you crazy because they are the one who makes it all worth it, the one person you can not imagine a life with out?

Can you imagine if you had that one person, but they were the one person you could not marry? Can you imagine if your love for that one person could be equated with mental illness? Can you imagine if you were, or could be, discriminated against for loving that one person? Can you imagine if you had worry that someone might act out against you in a violent way just for being with the person you love? What would you do if it were you? Would you sit back and accept it, or would you fight for change? Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin decided to lead the fight for change.

Phyllis and Del met and became friends in Seattle, 1949. They fell in love and began a romantic relationship in 1952. In 1953 they moved to San Fransisco and bought a home. In 1955, while seeking larger lesbian social group, Phyllis, Del and few friends started a lesbian organization called Daughters of Bilitis. Though beginning as a social group, Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) quickly became more of a political organization. Del became the DOB's president and Phyllis took on as editor of the their monthly magazine, The Ladder. They used much of their time and money to run DOB and The Ladder. By 1958 chapters of DOB began opening up in larger cities across the country. By the late 1960's the organization had grown, the focus of DOB began to shift away from Phyllis and Del's vision. The leadership changed, pushing Del and Phyllis out of the organization they started which ultimately lead to the collapse of DOB.

During the 1960's and early 1970's, Del and Phyllis also became active in San Francisco politics. As part of this work, they worked to end police harassment at gay bars. They helped to form the Alice B Toklas Memorial Democratic Club, which worked to help get lesbians elected to public office. They have both served on city commissions and task forces. They were also instrumental in getting the National Organization for Women to pass a resolution affirming that the oppression of lesbians is a feminist concern, and Del was the first out lesbian elected to NOW.

In 1972 Del and Phyllis published their book Lesbian/Woman. Their book Lesbian Love and Liberation was published in 1973. In 1976 Del published one of the earliest books on domestic violence, Battered Wives. In 1979 an affordable women's health clinic was opened in their names, Lyon-Martin Health Services, in San Fransisco.

On February 12, 2004, following Mayor Gavin Newsom's directive to grant marriage license to same-sex couples, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were married by the San Francisco City Assessor. A photograph of their embrace at the ceremony catapulted them to national attention and changed the face of gay marriage for much of America. Sadly, their marriage was soon nullified by the Supreme Court of California on the grounds Mayor Newsom did not have the authority to issue the marriage licenses. Phyllis and Del then joined the law suit to challenge the constitutionality of the California law to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples. On May 15, 2008 they were victorious, the California Supreme court ruled it unconstitutional to ban same-sex marriage.

On June 16, 2008, at 5:01 pm, Mayor Gavin Newsom married Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon in a private ceremony. It fills my heart with great joy that these two women, who have spent their entire lives leading a tireless fight for fairness and equality, can finally stand up in front of friends, family and community and have their relationship looked upon with equal recognition. It is a time to celebrate and congratulate. It is a time to thank them for having the courage and the strength to be who they are and to stand up and take the lead. I know I don't have that kind of strength, I'm so appreciative that they do. I'm so happy they got enjoy the right to marry, something I imagine they never thought they'd see.

See what others have to say about these two wonderful women:
congratulations (again) phyllis & del, by Epiphenita
phyllis and del by THINGS according to me
Love is...by Jill on Feministe
Why this queer isn't celebrating, by Jack onFeministe
Love, Love, Love by Dorothy Surrenders
Who says lesbians and gays cannot form committed relationshipsby Paula the surfer mom at lesbiatopia

Image Credit: Woman Vision