PROFILE OF FIRST LESBIAN COUPLE MARRIED IN S.F.: From the Contra Costa Times

...Their hastily planned private ceremony Feb. 12 amid the national attention focused on City Hall inspired peals of applause and rivulets of tears from the select few witnesses. The couple wanted the right to marry primarily so they could publicly declare their commitment but also so they could receive the same tax and health benefits as married partners.

Now that the California Supreme Court has invalidated nearly 4,000 same-sex licenses, the duo are taking center stage again. They and 11 other couples are legally challenging the constitutionality of a same-sex marriage ban. ...

The couple met in Seattle in 1950 while working at a trade publication. They became close friends, but it wasn't until they were at a Press Club function that Lyon discovered her friend's sexual orientation. ...

They met a woman interested in forming a social group for lesbians who would gather and sponsor dances in one another's homes without the fear of arrest. Eventually, the couple steered the group of eight toward tackling social and legal issues and holding forums. Membership grew.

The Daughters of Bilitis -- their name taken from the title of a French author's book that featured women's love poems-- blossomed into an international organization. The group's name was meant to help lesbians instantly identify with its purpose without revealing that it was a lesbian organization. In 1956, Lyon became the first editor for the group's influential newsletter, "The Ladder."

Martin and Lyon eagerly slipped into the role of activists, advocating for change in numerous institutions. Martin attended American Psychiatric Association meetings where she hounded members to stop designating homosexuality as a mental illness. The board did so in 1973. ...

"I don't think people get married just so they can get benefits because presumably they're in love and want to make a life together," Lyon said.

But, given their ages, Martin and Lyon see it as crucial to obtain the same benefits accorded to heterosexual couples. They registered as domestic partners with the state and the city but are entering a stage in life where the federal rights of married couples are important.

"In our case, for instance, we're both on Social Security. If we were married and were recognized by the federal government and one of us died, the other would get part of that. The way it works now, our income is just cut in half when one of us dies," Lyon said. "And there's nothing for families with small children ... .In the meantime, we pay taxes, we do all these things that we're supposed to do but we don't get the same benefits."

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