Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon created and helped shape the modern gay and feminist movements. In 1955 the couple cofounded the first lesbian rights organization, the Daughters of Bilitis.

They were instrumental in the formation and growth of the contemporary women’s rights movement. They helped bring hidden issues of violence against women and within families into public view; insured the open involvement of LGBTQ+ people in electoral politics; and challenged censorship at local, state, and national levels.

Martin and Lyon were the first couple to be married by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004 in a challenge to California law prohibiting same-sex marriage. They repeated the ceremony in June 2008, after the California Supreme Court overturned the ban.