Help Us Honor Phyllis Lyon — A Lesbian Activist Pioneer!
Phyllis Lyon is known for her tireless organizing in groups such as Daughters of Bilitis, National Organization for Women, Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, Council on Religion and the Homosexual, and working in many other spaces that built community and advocated for the rights of lesbians and the entire LGBT community.
The Rainbow Honor Walk, a 501(c)3 in San Francisco, seeks to honor Phyllis Lyon with a 3’x3’ bronze plaque commemorating her significant impact on the trajectory of LGBT rights.
The Rainbow Honor Walk has already installed 44 plaques in the sidewalks of the Castro District in San Francisco, celebrating the contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals across the globe. This year, the RHW Board voted to honor Phyllis Lyon, and we are honored to install her plaque next to an existing plaque for Del Martin, her longtime partner and cofounder of Daughters of Bilitis.
Phyllis Lyon alongside Del Martin and other lesbian couples founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the first US lesbian social and political organization, in 1955. Lyon edited the organization's monthly newsletter “The Ladder” which was one of the country's first lesbian magazines and ran through 1972. Even after the conclusion of “The Ladder” Lyon continued writing and co-authored the books “Lesbian/Woman”(1972) and “Lesbian Love and Liberation” (1973).
Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin later became the first gay couple married in San Francisco after gay marriage was legalized in San Francisco in 2004. While that marriage was eventually invalidated by the State Supreme Court, when in 2008 the State Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal they were again invited to be the first gay couple married in California.
In a 1989 interview Phyllis Lyon was quoted as saying “We were trying to help lesbians find themselves … I mean, you can’t have a movement if you don’t have people that see that they’re worthwhile.” Although this GoFundMe campaign is presented as a tribute to Phyllis Lyon, all funds raised are contributed to the Rainbow Honor Walk’s General Fund. As a nonprofit, RHW uses general-fund donations at its discretion to further its mission—including fabricating and installing plaques, supporting organizational operations, and fostering LGBTQ+ visibility. Your gift helps us keep the entire program thriving, not just a single tribute.
You can learn more about Phyllis Lyon by browsing the GLBT Historical Society’s Digital Collection of Primary Documents , taking a Friend’s of the Lyon-Martin House’s Virtual Tour of the home where early Daughters of Bilitis meetings took place, or reading an interesting NPR Interview with both Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin from 1992.
Thank you for supporting this tribute to Phyllis Lyon and the Rainbow Honor Walk. No donation is too small to help make an impact.
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