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• The Daughters of Bilitis is a San Francisco-based social club for lesbians founded in 1955. The club grew to be the first lesbian advocacy association in the United States.

• Fast Facts

  1. Founded: 1955
  2. Founders: Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin
  3. First lesbian advocacy organization in United States
  4. Modeled after Mattachine Society
  5. Lyon and Martin wed in first official gay marriage in California in 2008
  6. Named after character, Bilitis, in Pierre Louys poems
  7. Fictional character Bilitis lived on Greek island of Lesbos

• History

  The club derived its name from a Pierre Louys poem cycle, the Songs of Bilitis, which described a fictional woman who lived on the island of Lesbos, in Greece. The club was founded along the lines of the Mattachine Society, a social club for gay men founded in Los Angeles in 1951. In its early years, the Daughters of Bilitis reached out to isolated lesbian women and hosted public meetings on homosexuality. The organization began to decline in 1970 after internal disputes over the direction of the organization.GLBTQ: Daughters of Bilitis

• First Gay Marriages in California

  Two of the original members of the club, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, became the first gay couple to legally marry in California on June 16, 2008, in a civil ceremony officiated by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.San Francisco Chronicle: Lesbian Pioneer Activists See Wish Fulfilled (June 15, 2008)

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Del Martin Dead | Gay Marriage | Lesbian | Gay | California Gay Marriage | Christopher Krueger

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