Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons

Visibly moved, Kate Kendell, far left, cheers as lesbian rights pioneers Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon achieve marriage equality.

Woman of Mormon Background Helps Plan, Witnesses Historic Wedding
NCLR’s Kate Kendell Was Instrumental in Helping Advance Marriage Equality in California

June 2008

Kate Kendell had a front row view on June 16, when lesbian rights pioneers Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, together for more than half a century, were married by Mayor Gavin Newsom in the San Francisco City Hall.

Kendell, who grew up in a Mormon family, is the executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, a public interest law firm that joined the legal battle to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage.

“It would not be happening were it not for Del and Phyllis," Kendell said. "They and a small cadre of others sacrificed everything to build a foundation that got us to this historic place where we are today.”

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon have been together for more than fifty years. They founded the Daughters of Bilitis in 1955, the first national lesbian organization. In 1964, they helped launch the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, bringing together national religious leaders and gay and lesbian activists to discuss homosexual rights. Lyon, in a challenge to the leadership of the feminist movement, was the first open lesbian on the board of the National Organization for Women in 1973. Martin, meanwhile, helped lead a successful campaign to get the American Psychiatric Association to take homosexuality off its list of mental illnesses.

Kendell, who met the couple 14 years ago, has become their de facto gatekeeper and helped plan their wedding. In 2004, Kendell spoke at the Affirmation annual conference and recounted the 2004 wedding of Martin and Lyon—a ceremony which the state of California later invalidated.

Says Kendell, "Four years ago, when they agreed to be married, it was in equal parts to support the mayor and to support the idea that lesbians and gay people formed committed relationships and should have those relationships respected.”