Home of first lesbian couple to legally marry in San Francisco will become landmark

The home of the first lesbian couple to legally marry in San Francisco will soon become a landmark. The city's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to grant  651 Duncan St. that designation on Tuesday.

Late lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin owned the home. They bought the one-bedroom house in 1955. It soon became an unofficial office for the Daughters of Bilitis, a political and social organization for lesbians the couple founded that year. "They provided a place for lesbians who were really, really, really in the closet to hang out and dance, have holiday potlucks so they wouldn't have to go home and hang out with their homophobic relatives," Shayne Watson, an architectural historian who specializes in LGBTQ heritage conservation, told the Associated Press. Watson played a role in helping to get the home landmarked.