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Last week, on Valentine’s Day, Mayor London Breed and the City of San Francisco invited same-sex couples to celebrate a historic milestone. Twenty years ago, San Francisco became the first city in the United States to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Feminists and gay rights activists Dorothy Louise Taliaferro “Del” Martin (1921–2008) and Phyllis Ann Lyon (1924-2020) were the first couple married in San Francisco following Mayor Gavin Newsom’s decree to begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses in 2004, though their union was voided by the California Supreme Court. They married again in 2008 when the Court legalized same-sex marriage in California. They moved into an apartment together on Castro Street on Valentine’s Day, 1953 and were together for 55 years. Martin and Lyon cofounded the Daughters of Bilitis in 1955 as the first social and political club for lesbians in the United States, and the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club as San Francisco’s first gay political organization in 1971. In 1978, Harvey Milk and the San Francisco Supervisors presented the couple with a Certificate of Honor for their pioneering work for gay rights. Learn more about Harvey Milk's life and legacy in our exhibition, "Messenger of Hope," which is on view pre-security in Harvey Milk Terminal 1. Not traveling? The exhibition catalog is available to read online! https://ow.ly/KTTv50QGuRK Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon receive a Certificate of Honor from supervisors Harvey Milk, Carol Ruth Silver, and Ella Hill Hutch at City Hall January 1978 Photograph by Daniel Nicoletta (b. 1954) Courtesy of the photographer R2019.0204.003 This image was posted on February 21, 2024.