I don't know how substantive this diary will actually be but since I just read the news (and am still reacting to it), I figured I would put it up ASAP.
LGBT activist Del Martin has passed away. There's an article about her death on 365gay.com (link here).
She was 87 and lived a remarkable life. While I never met her, we shared a community for a very long time, one which she helped to create.
A bit more after the fold.
Del met Phyllis Lyon in 1953. They were the first LGBT couple to be married by Gavin Newsom in 2004 and again this past June. They were together for 55 years.
Together they moved to San Francisco from Seattle (I believe) and, in 1955, helped form The Daughters of Bilitis; the first lesbian rights organization. In 1956, the group began publishing "The Ladder" which was the first newsletter intended for lesbian readers.
No, I'm not a lesbian, I'm a gay man. But I have known of Del and Phyllis ever since I began cracking open my own personal closet door in the mid-70's.
To me and I'm sure to countless others, Del and Phyllis were and are national treasures. They certainly count among my personal heroes/heroines. I'm glad to know that Del survived long enough so that she and Phyllis could celebrate their right to a full legal marriage. No mean-spirited constitutional amendment can ever take that from them.
No doubt others will be able to comment more eloquently than I have here, but I can honestly say that my life is better today thanks to the work that Del did, and the fights she and Phyllis fought on our behalf, for the past fifty years.