American activist Phyllis Lyon was BOTD in 1924. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she studied journalism, working as a journalist and editor in California and Seattle. In 1950 she met Del Martin, became her lover and life partner. Together they founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the first social and political organisation for lesbians in the United States. They edited the DOB’s official magazine The Ladder until 1963, and became the first lesbian couple to join the National Organisation of Women. In 1964 they formed the Council on Religion and the Homosexual to persuade churches to accept gay and lesbian members, and became politically active in the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club, advocating for decriminalisation of homosexuality and anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people. They were the first same-sex couple to be married in San Francisco in 2004, though their marriage was voided by the California Supreme Court months later. They married again in 2008; Martin died two months later. Lyon remained politically active into old age, dying in 2020 aged 95. She was portrayed by her birthday twin Heather Matarazzo in the 2020 docudrama Equal.