August 27, 2008
Because I’m sure a few people who read my blog probably have no idea who Del Martin is, here’s a list of things we can thank her for, taken from her obituary (PDF):
- Martin co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the first public and political lesbian rights organization in the United States
- Martin helped create the Council on Religion and the Homosexual in order to lobby city lawmakers more effectively to reduce police harassment and modify the sex laws that criminalized homosexual behavior.
- As an early member of the National Organization for Women (NOW), Del Martin worked to counter homophobia within the women’s movement—fear of the so-called “lavender menace.” She and Lyon were the first lesbians to insist on joining with a “couples’ membership rate.”
- She was a leader in the campaign to persuade the American Psychiatric Association to declare that homosexuality was not a mental illness.
- Martin’s publication of Battered Wives in 1976 was a major catalyst for the movement against domestic violence.
This is just a small example of the many ways in which we should all be incredibly grateful to Del and Phyllis for dedicating their lives to stopping the hatred and discrimination that mars the lives of gay and lesbian people.
LGBT rights pioneer Del Martin passes away
Today, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community lost an iconic leader and a beloved friend. Del Martin, 87, passed away in San Francisco with Phyllis Lyon, her lifelong partner and spouse, by her side.
I couldn’t help but be moved when I read about Del and Phyllis’ wedding on the day that marriage rights were finally restored to gays and lesbians in California. It’s so sad to see that they were able to enjoy their marriage for such a short period of time, but I bet they’d both tell you they were just glad to have lived to see the day they were able to wed. Not that the radical right doesn’t wish to see their marriage invalidated anyway—take the time now to donate to the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ No on 8 PAC to preserve the rights of gays and lesbians in California to follow in Del’s footsteps.
August 19, 2008
I’ve just begun using Fluid, the app that lets you create site-specific browsers for your favorite web apps. Carsonified created a great set for Google Apps, which inspired me to create an “official” Fluid app icon for WordPress. You can download it here. I’ve also added it to the Fluid Icons group on Flickr.
Google Street View has launched in a ton of new locations, sending me down Memory Lane a bit as Mobile and its suburbs, Savannah, GA, and New Orleans are among the new additions. It was a little surreal for me to see downtown Fairhope, my first apartment, the graphic design building at SCAD, our townhouse on Tybee Island (probably my favorite place I’ve ever lived), the back entrance of Huc-a-Poo’s on Tybee, and my favorite, our house in New Orleans, with my Volvo in the driveway and John’s Explorer parked in front. I can almost hear the music playing from our backyard.
