In 2004 San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that the the City of San Francisco would grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The first same-sex wedding to take place at City Hall was between Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. The couple, who had lived together more than 50 years, were longtime activists in the San Francisco lesbian and gay community having formed the Daughters of Bilitis, one of the first national lesbian organizations in the US in 1955.
Black and white photograph of two mothers with son leaving the Alameda County Courthouse stairs holding hands, carrying adoption paperwork and smiling.
Color photograph of Helen James in her home, holding a photo album of her time in the Air Force. Six decades after the Air Force kicked her out for being a lesbian, James was finally awarded the honorable discharge. Approximately 100,000 lesbian and gay veterans were dishonorably discharged from the military since World War II; they were stigmatized, harrassed and denied crucial veterans’ benefits.
Black and white photo by Cathy Cade of marchers in San Francisco carrying banner "Asian/Pacific Lesbians, for the love of women/bagi cinta pada wanita/sa pag-mahal ng babae/tình yêu của phụ nữ/kealoha o wahine/女への愛のために/[chinese characters]/for the love of ♀".
Black and white photograph by Cathy Cade of marchers in the street carrying banners "Mujeres en Lucha, Lesbianas Latinas" "Gay Latinos for the Nicaraguan Revolution."
Pink flyer calling for "Sponsors Needed: Gay/Lesbian Cuban Refugees 863-4434. Volunteer staff persons are needed. Contributions of money and clothing are tax deductible."
Attribution:
San Francisco LGBT General Subjects Ephemera Collection, courtesy of the GLBT Historical Society
Archive of photographic negatives, work prints, project files, exhibition prints, and personal papers of San Francisco Bay Area photographer Cathy Cade. Cade's work documents lesbian and gay life, particularly in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco, chiefly in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
