A Giant Remembered
August 27, 2008
I just learned that lesbian pioneer Del Martin (left) passed away today with her wife Phyllis Lyon at her side. After a 55 year long partnership, Del and Phyllis were legally married on June 16 of this year.
That’s an incredible thing my dear friends and I thank God they lived to have such a moment; a moment that no opponents to marriage equality can ever take away.
Please do yourself a favor and read about the incredible work Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon have done over the years for GLBTQ equality that you and I have benefited from in immeasurable ways.
To love and to cherish, til death us do part…
Ever since I met Del 55 years ago, I could never imagine a day would come when she wouldn’t be by my side. I am so lucky to have known her, loved her and been her partner in all things.
I also never imagined there would be a day that we would actually be able to get married. I am devastated, but I take some solace in knowing we were able to enjoy the ultimate rite of love and commitment before she passed. – Phyllis Lyon, 83, in a recent statement following the death of her spouse
Posted in News and Events
Sweet Hope Cookies
August 27th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
I am so grateful that they had the chance to legally say I do. That is something that can never be taken away from them. I am also humbled by all that has been done before that makes it easier on people today.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Wow… how truly wonderful that they were able to get married legally before their union ended.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Its wonderful that Del and Phyllis were blessed with a 55 year partnership. Such faithfulness to each other and what an example for all of us in the GLBT community.
I haven’t seen much about funeral arrangements yet. Does anyone have information about that?
I also haven’t seen much about their spiritual lives. Were Del and Phyllis saved, born again Christians or something else?
I am grateful for their undaunted courage and their pioneering work for GLBT rights. Let’s keep Phyllis in our prayers at this time of such loss.
Rick Brentlinger
August 29th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I am deeply saddened for the loss! And deeply grateful that she and her partner were rewarded for their hard work with a real legal same sex marriage!
August 29th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
God is SO good!! I am so saddened by Del’s passing and I am so grateful that she lived to see the day when she got to legally marry the woman she had loved for so many decades!
Thea Collier
August 30th, 2008 at 9:43 am
My prayers and thoughts are will Plyllis. The love her and Del shared is a testament of such courage and commitment. I’m thankful that they were able to legally marry and no one can ever take that away from them.
August 30th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
All I can do is hold my hand over my mouth. I am overcome, especially with all these two heroic women have done for all of us.
I am so glad the law began to overlap with justice before she died. But it is tragic that we’re all so very happy for her experiencing a basic human right before she died. I look forward to the day, may it be within our lifetimes, that a gay person can run for president and be seen as somebody respectable and honorable, like Obama is doing for the African Americans who were so oppressed just a few short decades ago. If this happens in the next few decades, it will be thanks to people like Del and Phyllis.
August 30th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Rick–> I read that there’s going to be one or more public memorial services within several weeks for Del in the San Francisco area. I would imagine if you get updates from Marriage Equality California or check their site regularly the information will be provided. I don’t have any information about either her or Phyllis’ faith commitments, if they had any. I’ve read that they were more than aware and vocal early on in the role of the church in creating false perceptions about gays and that in the mid-60′s they were instrumental in forming the Council on Religion and the Homosexual which was intended to advocate to reduce the harassment of gays by the police and to remove sex laws that criminalized homosexual behavior.
With all of you I continue to rejoice that only death separated Del and Phyllis and that at their parting they held legal status as married which we wouldn’t have available in California (or anywhere) were it not for their pioneering work and of other brave souls like them.