The Lyon-Martin House Oral History Project

Professors Don Romesburg and Steve Estes, in collaboration with two SSU students through a special studies (WGS/HIST 495) course in Fall 2022, will conduct, transcript, and archive a series of 6-8 oral histories related to the historic preservation of the longtime San Francisco house of lesbian icons and heroes Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. Martin and Lyon founded the first US lesbian political organization in the 1950s and after a life of activism went on to become the first same-sex couple to marry in California. The Friends of Lyon-Martin House, a fiscally sponsored project of the GLBT Historical Society, is funding the project, with primary allotments for faculty and student research involvement, with a small amount set aside for incidental costs (such as travel). These oral histories will be donated to the GLBT Historical Society's archives in San Francisco, upon completion and approval by interviewees.