They hold each other's arms facing each other, leaning their faces together until they meet in a gesture of belonging. Both are wearing suits, one in light blue and the other in lilac. Both have grey hair, but one of them hides it in a dark shade. Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon in the middle of a group of people celebrating their wedding. This is the photo that went around the country and tells of a Libyan cry for freedom in California.
This week, in the framework of Lesbian Visibility Day, which is celebrated every April 26, we remember two pioneers in the fight for lesbian rights in California and the country.
Del Martin was born in San Francisco on May 5, 1921, and Phyllis Ann Lyon in Tulsa on November 10, 1924. They were the first lesbian couple to legally marry in San Francisco in 2004, although one month after their union was celebrated, the California Supreme Court invalidated their marriage.
However, the story of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon's first lesbian marriage in San Francisco began much earlier.
The prosperous times of the United States were running through the post-war period, the 1950s, when minority groups were beginning to emerge in the political sphere.