Bob Collins
Why has this picture generated so much interest around the country today?
It’s a picture of Del Martin (left) and Phyllis Lyon (right), who exchanged rings in San Francisco yesterday. They were the first couple to be married in San Francisco as same-sex marriages become legal in California.
They are, their Wikipedia page suggests, a different face of same-sex marriage — the face of a 50-year commitment:
Martin and Lyon met in Seattle in 1950 when they began working for the same magazine. They became lovers in 1952 and entered into a formal partnership in 1953 when they moved to San Francisco together although unable to legally marry.[2][5][3] Many years later, Lyon and Martin recalled how they learned to live together in 1953. “We really only had problems our first year together. Del would leave her shoes in the middle of the room, and I’d throw them out the window,” said Lyon, to which Martin responded, “You’d have an argument with me and try to storm out the door. I had to teach you to fight back.”[6]
