Never Too Late For Love

Posted June 18, 2008, 10:53 am in Gay by Growing Bolder


Most people at the age of 87 are celebrating a milestone wedding anniversary. But in Del Martin's case, she's celebrating another sort of milestone: legally getting married to her girlfriend of 55 years.

According to a CNN News article, Martin and her partner, Phyllis Lyon, 84, were together when the idea of same-sex relationships were all but talked about. In the early 1950s they fell in love and in 1955 they took a step toward change and founded the nation's first lesbian organization, Daughters of Bilitis.

Now, after a major turning point in American law in which the state of California has legalized same-sex marriages, the couple walked down the aisle Monday, joining together their lives and their passion for activism.

But this wouldn't be the first time the two attempted to legalize their union. They were wed in 2004 after San Francisco officials allowed gays to wed, but the unions were voided by the state Supreme Court.

Bringing the two back to square one.

For years, Lyon and Martin have expressed their wants for full rights more so than the chance to get married. To them, they were already married.

Now, they really are married.

Breaking barriers, stereotypes and misconceptions.



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