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Martin and Lyon have been leaders of the lesbian and feminist movements since the 1950s. They met in Seattle in 1950, and by 1952 their friendship had evolved into a life partnership that lasted for more than 50 years. In 1953, they moved to San Francisco, California where, in 1955, they formed the homophile organization the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB). Lyon was the first editor of DOB’s newsletter, the Ladder, beginning in 1956.
Martin and Lyon have been active in the National Organization for Women (NOW) since the 1970s. Martin has been accused of creating NOW's rule of thumb myth in 1976. Martin is the author of Battered Wives (1976) and the co-author of Lesbian/Woman with Lyon (1972) and Every Eighteen Seconds: A Journey Through Domestic Violence with Nancy Kilgore (1994). The Lyon-Martin Women's Health Services Center, founded in San Francisco in 1979, is named for them.
In 1995, Martin and Lyon formed Old Lesbians Organizing for Change. Also in that year, President Bill Clinton named Martin and Lyon to the White House Conference on Aging. In 2003 filmmaker Joan E. Biren released a documentary film on the couple, No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon.
On February 12, 2004, Martin and Lyon were granted a marriage license, the first in a series of marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples in the United States by various local governments in 2004. The license was granted in violation of California state law by the City and County of San Francisco in an act of civil disobedience. The ultimate legal status of the marriage license, one of hundreds granted to same-sex couples by San Francisco in February 2004, is yet to be determined. (see Same-sex marriage in the United States)