Phyllis Lyons & Del Martin
from issue #1 of the zine series, Lavender Liberation | collage and writing by me
“Nothing was ever accomplished by hiding in a dark corner.” - Del Martin
Though both Del Martin and Phyllis Lyons majored in journalism at the University of Berkeley, they did not meet until 1949. They found each other through work in Seattle, Washington at an office party. They hit it off quickly and began dating in the following weeks. They moved in together and were practically inseparable by 1953.
Moving in together meant moving towns, which pulled them both away from their close knit lesbian communities and threw them into the uncharted waters of San Francisco. Due to their shared shy nature, Martin and Lyons kept to themselves. The pair didn’t venture into the lesbian bars to make friends due to the danger of assault or arrest that was ever present. It took two years before both women began to explore the gay and lesbian spaces they had stayed away from. The bar scene turned out to be just as dangerous as they had thought, leading them to follow the suggestion of a friend and begin meeting at one another's houses instead.
As meetings became regular, it became a secret society of sorts and the couple agreed that a secret society needed a name. Del named the group ‘Daughters of Bilitis (DOB)’ after a book entitled Songs of Bilitis that named Bilitis as a fictional contemporary of Sappho (all hail the mother of lesbians.) Now, with a name and regular meetings underway, the social group grew and became a more structured and organized unit.
Much of DOB’s growth stemmed from Del and Phyllis’ work as peer counselors to other women in their community. By 1955, they inadvertently turned DOB into a support group for the abandoned, hurt, and isolated lesbians of San Francisco. Teens kicked out by family, conversion therapy survivors, and everyone in between were safe with the DOB. The next issue became spreading awareness of their services, so those who needed them knew how to access them. The culture of silence and suppression within the press and general media was so present, that the members of DOB had no idea that a gay mens group, The Mattachine Society, had formed in the same city in 1950, or that in 1949 the first lesbian zine series was distributed in bars nearby the ones they frequented. Because accessibility to information about these other groups and events was so lacking, the DOB and other groups like it had no choice but to assume they were alone in their mission to provide resources to the queer community.
When they did finally find The Mattachine Society, they already had their own zine in the works- as did the men's group. The Ladder, named after the sapphic novel The Well of Loneliness, began in 1956 as a natural extension of DOB for the two journalism-minded founders. Though it was an effective way to spread the word, it also garnered the attention of the FBI. They began to try and infiltrate the DOB and build a case against them. Members had to work to evade the FBI when they held conferences in New York, (which they did successfully) and prioritize protecting their anonymity above all else. The Lavender Scare left both the DOB and the Mattachine Society vulnerable and distrustful towards the government. Eventually, The Ladder was spread nationwide and sparked Ladder Parties wherever it went.
Phyllis and Del were not done there, though. They also founded The Council on Religion and The Homosexual (CRH) in an effort to work with church leaders to endorse the proper treatment of gays and lesbains within their sermons. The group was gaining traction and, by New Years Eve, there was a fundraiser organized called the Mardi Gras Ball. The turn out was unheard of for gatherings of LGBTQ people, surpassing 500 people. Church leaders and a lawyer served as protection from the angry police. However, the barricade was still broken by officers, and they arrested innocent men and women for “crossdressing”. The fundraiser was remarked as the first major precursor to Stonewall.
Thanks to the work of Del, Phyllis, and other LGBTQ people of the 50’s, the Homophile Movement was officially underway and laying the groundwork for radical change.
Definitions:
Lavender Scare: A moral panic during the 50’s that played off the Red Scare and deemed gay people immoral communists. This led to many gay people being fired, in mass, from government jobs as well as FBI hunts against queer social groups.
The Homophile Movement: A movement characterized by representing gay and lesbian struggles in the 50’s and early 60’s. It focused on gaining acceptance from straight communities- radical for its time.
Ladder Parties: Sapphics would meet in secret to share their copies of The Ladder and discuss the articles in the safety of their homes, keeping them out of the bars and away from the police.
