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The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon
Produced by Academy Award Nominee Dee Mosbacher and produced and directed by internationally recognized documentary artist JEB (Joan E. Biren) under the auspices of Woman Vision and Moonforce Media, No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon will be a 55-minute documentary that chronicles the lives of two women who have been partners in love and political struggle for half a century. San Francisco icons, Del and Phyllis are known as the founders of the modern lesbian civil rights movement. No Secret Anymore follows them through six decades, tracing the emergence of lesbians from the fear of discovery to the expectation of equality.
Phyllis and Del's story is a testament to how individuals can influence the course of history. In 1955, against the backdrop of terror created by Senator Joseph McCarthy's hunt for homosexuals and Communists, Del and Phyllis joined with six other women in San Francisco to found the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), America's first lesbian rights organization (named after The Songs of Bilitis, an obscure book of lesbian love poems.) At the time, social taboos against homosexuality were so strong that gay people were in constant danger of harassment, physical violence, and losing their homes, jobs and families. When their sexuality was discovered, lesbians were declared unfit mothers by the courts and denied custody of their children. Homosexuality was viewed as a psychiatric disorder and lesbians were often incarcerated in prisons and mental institutions, where they were subjected to electro-shock therapy and, in extreme cases, lobotomies.
So, when eight brave women gathered together as lesbians to create a group for mutual support, they took a revolutionary leap forward. DOB began as a very small, very secret society whose main activities were dances and picnics. After a year, Phyllis and Del sought a more public and political organization. This caused a split with the members who wanted the group to remain completely social and hidden. With Del elected president and Phyllis as secretary, DOB went on to define its purpose as bringing lesbians into the public discourse through education, encouraging responsible research studies, and advocating for changes in the penal code.
In 1960, DOB held its first national convention at a downtown hotel in San Francisco. Highlights included discussions on psychosexual behavior, status of gay bars, religious attitudes, legal problems of lesbian couples and entertainment. Phyllis and Del hosted a pre-convention reception at their home. Their address and phone number were printed in the program. From that point on there was no turning back for DOB or the couple who brought it out of the closet.
Unfortunately, in 1969 the National Organization for Women (NOW) President Betty Friedan labeled lesbians "The Lavender Menace." Again entering unfriendly territory, Del and Phyllis were two of the first out lesbians to join NOW, insisting on the couple's membership rate. At the 1971 and 1973 NOW conventions, the oppression of lesbians as a feminist issue was acknowledged in resolutions that Del and Phyllis were instrumental in getting adopted.
In 1972, they helped to set up the Alice B.Toklas Memorial Democratic Club. They have been influential in getting women and lesbians on the San Francisco police force, in the fire department, and elected and appointed to public office.
Del was a key member of a campaign that resulted in the historic 1973 decision of the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its manual of mental disorders. For the first time in history, lesbians and gay men were not classified as deviant. This served as a catalyst, raising consciousness for the recognition of lesbians and homosexuals as human beings.
In 1977, they were both elected as delegates from California to the International Women's Year (IWY) Conference in Houston. At IWY, they were part of an organizing effort to ensure that lesbians were included in the resolutions that were sent to President Carter and passed on to the U.S. Congress. In 1978, Phyllis chaired San Franciscans Against Proposition 6 (the Briggs Initiative) and helped to win a 75 to 25 percent victory against the anti-gay amendment in California.
While some might rest on their laurels, Phyllis and Del forged on. They are now involved with Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC), dealing with ageism, and are working on the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender elders. Senator Dianne Feinstein and Representative Nancy Pelosi appointed Del and Phyllis respectively as delegates to the 1995 White House Conference on Aging. They raised issues related to sexual orientation and made sure their demands were part of the Conference record.
Phyllis and Del have lived in the same small house in San Francisco since 1955. Throughout the years many have sought their advice and endorsement. They have been given more awards than will fit on their crowded walls and shelves. Today every city and state official in the Bay Area addresses lesbian and gay issues. Although they dislike being called role models, these women personify strength and grit in pursuit of the common good. Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon embody a steady and enduring devotion to one's ideals and family that anyone would be proud to take as a model.
"No Secret Anymore" - The San Francisco Premiere! - Production Team
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Del and Phyllis next turned their energies to writing Lesbian/Woman. Published in1972, it described lesbian lives in a positive, knowledgeable way almost unknown at the time. Publishers Weekly chose it as one of the 20 most influential women's books of the last 20 years (the 70s and 80s). Del went on to author Battered Wives in 1976, on the subject of domestic violence. The book acted as a catalyst for the establishment of a network of battered women's shelters. Phyllis began a new career in sex education and became co-director of the National Sex Forum, which originated the use of explicitly sexual films as a teaching tool. Later she was a co-founding faculty member of The Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, a graduate school which grants doctoral and other degrees in sexology.