Del & Phyllis: A 21st-century lesbian’s history project

I don’t consider myself much of a “history person,” but when it comes to the history and legacy of the LGBT rights movement, I want to know everything there is to possibly know.

The passion and hard work of courageous 20th-century lesbians such as Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, for instance, have resulted in the opportunities that I and thousands of other lesbians enjoy today. Just a few days ago if you asked me, “Who was responsible for the launch of the lesbian rights movement?” I probably would have responded with something about Stonewall, not even realizing I was about 20 years off. I’m not content or proud of my ignorance, but it is certainly not my fault. As a 20-year-old lesbian, I am too young to have experienced any of the LGBT rights movements of the 20th century and I was deprived of a history course that would include such ‘controversial’ information. Let’s be serious, K-12 history classes do not provide accurate or adequate accounts of marginalized groups in the United States, especially when it comes to the LGBT community. My “Twentieth-Century America” class in high school skipped right over the LGBT rights movement, despite having covered every other rights movement imaginable. Not even a sentence on the topic, not one! The educational system, ironically, is responsible for my ignorance.

So, today at the office my boss Sue Hyde, who is more like a mentor, was reflecting on the live coverage of lesbian and gay marriages in California, particularly the ceremony of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. Apart from my amazement over their 55-year relationship, I did not experience the same happiness for these two elderly lesbians as Sue did. Sue soon realized my dilemma: I was completely unaware of the pivotal role Del and Phyllis played in the lesbian rights movement. She sent me on a research mission to learn about these women and here I sit impressed and inspired by these two fierce lesbians, yet disappointed and frustrated with my previous lack of information.

So who are Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon? They are longtime rights activists, and more specifically they are the fire-starters of the lesbian rights movement. Both women, born in the early 1920s, lived in the midst of a society that did not and would not even recognize the existence of LGBT people; homosexuality was not a possibility at that time and anyone who claimed to be a homosexual was an aberration and abomination. Nonetheless, Del and Phyllis, two intelligent women who fell in love, advocated together for the rights of lesbians, urging society to recognize their existence and eventually their humanity. They were two of eight other lesbians responsible for the creation of the first national lesbian group. The Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) had a tremendous impact on the Lesbian rights movement because of its name and its purpose. “Bilitis” comes from the title of a book of lesbian love poetry, Songs of Bilitis, by Pierre Louys. DOB, and its name in particular, gave lesbian women the opportunity to fight for their rights and conceal their identity simultaneously — crucial to a lesbian woman’s livelihood in 1955. Soon after the founding of DOB, Del and Phyllis published the first nationally distributed lesbian journal, The Ladder, which opened the door for communication among the many DOB chapters throughout the United States and strengthened the lesbian rights movement.

The DOB organization and The Ladder were only two of many contributions that Del and Phyllis made to the Lesbian rights movement and even today as older women they continue to be activists for the broader LGBT rights movement. Their marriage on June 16 was not only a symbol of their immense love for one another, but also a message to the people of America that their 55-year relationship deserves recognition because it is as meaningful as the love that a married heterosexual couple share; that we are, in essence, equal and should be treated as such.

The struggle for same-sex marriage rights and the recognition of longtime lovers and leaders like Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon is just one part of the LGBT rights movement of my time. Realizing the present day movement’s importance, it upsets me that I have to work so hard just to understand the history of my community and how it has forged a path for the rights I possess today. Forty years from now the LGBT rights movement of today and the legacy of Del and Phyllis will be a part of some other young lesbian’s history whether she is aware of it or not. However, I hope she is aware of it and not because a wise lesbian told her, but because the society in which she lives cares enough to include it in the curriculum of history classes everywhere so that she can appreciate her culture, community and rights on a deeper level.

Becca Harrington is a Task Force intern based in Cambridge, Mass.

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