Established in 2005 as part of NLGJA’s 15th anniversary celebration, the LGBT Journalists Hall of Fame was launched to honor LGBT journalists who have shown courage and resolve by telling the truth, including their own personal truths, whatever the cost and whatever the difficulties.
Phyllis Lyon & Del Martin were inducted in 2005. Here’s an excerpt from their biography for the LGBT Journalists Hall of Fame:
“Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin founded The Ladder, a legendary publication that, according to historian John D’Emilio, “offered American lesbians, for the first time in history, the opportunity to speak with their own voices.
“The two journalists, who also were — and still are — life partners, took the first of their many political stands as editors when they adopted the style of capitalizing the word “Lesbian” whenever it appeared. Their editorials, beginning with a series of rhetorical questions in the debut issue in 1956, consistently prodded lesbians to galvanize into a collective political force.”
Martin and Lyon were married June 16, 2008, at San Francisco City Hall, becoming the first same-sex couple to legally wed in the city. Del Martin died August 27, 2008, in San Francisco.
Click here to read the complete biography.