LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lesbian activist Del Martin died on Wednesday, just two months after marrying her partner of 55 years in one of the first legally recognized California same-sex weddings.
Martin, 87, who wed Phyllis Lyon, 83, in San Francisco's City Hall in June, died of natural causes at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center on Wednesday morning, the National Center for Lesbian Rights said.
The same-sex couple also had been the first in California to marry in San Francisco's 2004 "Winter of Love," when Mayor Gavin Newsom opened the door to gay marriage. Those unions were annulled, but an ensuing legal battle ended this summer with court backing of same-sex marriages. A stampede of marriages followed.
Trend-setting California is one of only a few countries and U.S. states to allow same-sex marriage, although state voters in November will decide whether to abolish the right.
"I am devastated, but I take some solace in knowing we were able to enjoy the ultimate rite of love and commitment before she passed," Lyon said in a statement after her wife's death.
(Reporting by Peter Henderson; Editing by Eric Beech)
3 comments:
Ah, I am glad my friend, that they were able to make it legal before she passed. You are very diligent in finding the best stories...keep on..
I am glad for them as well; they give me hope that myself and others like me will have the good fortune to have our states recognize us to be first-class citizens with the same rights as everyone else. I am grateful that I at least have 'domestic partnership', it does give Sandra and I a leg to stand on if something happens to one of us (we have the visitation rights at the hospital, right to claim the body, etc.), but domestic partnership and civil union are not the same as marriage; it's like society throwing us a bone to appease us and try to get us to keep quiet. I pray that in my lifetime I get to legally be a spouse, in my state.
Thanks also for letting me know that I'm doing a good job of finding stories that everyone is interested in reading.
Girl I wanna dance with you and Sandra at your wedding!!! Live on faith, anything is possible in our lifetime....don't ever settle for a bone dear...
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