Phyllis Lyon

Phyllis was a pioneering and legendary lesbian and civil rights activist. She and her late wife, Del Martin, had the courage to change the world for the lesbian community in San Francisco and around the world. The work that Phyllis and Del created helped the queer community build a new world in which they could live their lives with dignity.

In 2008, Phyllis and Del became the first same sex couple of be legally married in San Francisco in 2008. Del passed away the same year. Before that, they not only shared a loving relationship, but they worked closely together in many ways to tear down walls for marginalized communities.

They helped start the Daughters of Bilitis (pronounced Bill-E-tis) in 1955, the nation’s first lesbian rights organization, as well as a national newsletter for the lesbian community called The Ladder out of Berkeley, California. The Lyon-Martin Clinic in San Francisco is named after them. They contributed to many publications on the topics of the lesbian community, domestic violence and feminism (many of these you can find in the auction from their personal shelves).

Their home, where much of the footage in The Day the Curtains Came Down is shot, is now a Local Landmark, and many of their belongings are now in the Smithsonian and the GLBT museum.

Phyllis passed away in 2020 at the age of 95.

Phyllis and Del grew the very community that stepped up for Phyllis in the end. They have inspired so many others to continue the work of which they were trail blazers, including this documentary which will highlight causes which Phyllis was so passionate about herself, including aging, civil rights, and what it means to love.

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