"Directed by the charismatic lesbian activist Joan E. Biren (JEB), [No Secret Anymore is]...an inspirational love story."
--Joshua Sanchez, Indie Wire
JEB is the recipient of the 2004 Sappho Award for Special Acheivement given by Girlfriends Magazine
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SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Friday, February 7, 2003
Del and Phyl: A very gay half century
Dave Ford
I have just had a lovely phone conversation with a couple who have been together nearly 50 years, and I'm thinking: 50 years? I can't stand to be with anyone longer than 50 minutes, and no, not you, honey, really. Honest.
They are Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, lesbian activists, San Francisco institutions and my new best friends. Like all long-term couples, they finish each other's sentences. And they laugh. A lot.
Their anniversary is on Valentine's Day. Stop moaning. They've earned it. They've been together since a time when they really weren't supposed to be together, then stayed together through decades more of the same.
They're celebrating on Thursday with the premiere at the Castro Theater of "No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon." (Gala reception at 6 p.m. Film at 8 p.m. Call (415) 355-9988 for information.)
I would tell you all about the documentary except that I haven't seen it, mainly because as of Tuesday filmmaker JEB (Joan E. Biren) was still tinkering with it. In Virginia.
Still, I urge you, without hesitation or restraint, to go see it.
JEB and producer Dee Mosbacher, a San Francisco psychiatrist, spent four years on the documentary about Del, 81, and Phyl, 78, as friends call them.
JEB and a small crew talked to the couple's family (including Del's daughter, Kendra Mon), friends and fellow activists, and trailed them to conventions and banquets.
Or, as Phyl said by phone Tuesday, "She filmed us at all kinds of places and all kinds of things and whatsises."
"That's a great way of talking about it," Del piped up dryly.
"Well, she did," Phyllis said with a laugh, and it was at that exact moment,
I decided I'm marrying them, and just think of the domestic partner benefits!
"I think it's a relationship that is so much based not only on mutual respect, but on mutual appreciation of each other," JEB, who lives in Silver Springs, Md., told me.
"Obviously, they are not mushy romantic people," she said. "But they love each other so deeply, and it comes out the way they listen to each other, the way they laugh at each other's jokes, in the humor that infuses everything about them."
JEB spent a weekend here in August 1999 filming the pair at home and at city spots pertinent to their activist history.
"She and her crew tore the house apart and put it back together again, so it had better backgrounds," Phyl said with a laugh. (To say Phyl said something with a laugh is like saying the sky above is blue.) "We still haven't found everything they moved."
Del sees the film as a story not just about them, but also about the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community's struggles from before the tide- turning Stonewall Riots in New York in the summer of 1969 to now.
"The Sixties were probably our busiest years (as activists)," she said. "We were still working, and we wonder how we held down jobs and still did all that stuff."
"That's because we were still young," Phyllis said, chuckling.
They say the most surprising change in all these years is the push toward gay marriage, even within a community often divided on the issue. (I'm all for it, at least when it comes to me marrying Phyl and Del.)
Mossbacher, 54, and JEB, 58, say that knowing about Del and Phyl in the early 1970s helped them come out of the closet. Dee's dad is Robert Mossbacher,
secretary of commerce in the first Bush administration. He held the first White House meeting with members of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force while in office. ("He got killed for it," Dee said, speaking metaphorically.)
Mossbacher, who has been with her partner, psychiatrist Nanette Granell, for nearly 29 years (they have known Del and Phyl since the 1970s), raised in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce the film, which she hopes will pass on Del's and Phyl's legacy.
"It's so important for younger people to understand our history, and that there are people whose shoulders we're standing on," she told me. "Del and Phyl are the biggest shoulders around."
And, as Mossbacher points out, they won't be around forever. Del and Phyl themselves acknowledge the aches and pains attending aging -- "We don't sit on the floor anywhere," Del said -- but have no problem seeing the silver lining.
"The best about getting older is that we're still here," Phyl said. "And I guess the -- "
"We certainly didn't expect to live to the age that we have," Del said.
"You don't anticipate that," Phyl said.
"When we were younger, people were dying much younger than they are now," Del said.
"The sixties really sounded old," Phyl said, laughing.
"A lot of people called us over the hill at 30," Del said.
That was in, oh, 1950, and here they are. Pardon me now while I go pick out my tux for the wedding.
E-mail Dave Ford at dford@sfchronicle.com.
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SAN FRANCISCO BAY TIMES
February 6, 2003
by Kim Corsaro
The biggest question I had while watching a rough cut of NO SECRET ANYMORE: THE TIMES OF DEL MARTIN AND PHYLLIS LYON was What took so long? Why did it take until the 21st Century for someone to commit the biography of these two remarkable women to celluloid? At least Joan E. Biren--known fondly to lesbians everywhere as JEB--has taken it upon herself to bring the story of Phyllis and Del to film....
Early on in the film, Del mentions that it's all about self-esteem, learning to respect yourself...This was the message that they worked hard to get out to other women in the 1950's...NO SECRET ANYMORE follows Lyon and Martin over the ensuing decades. They seem to be everywhere...Lyon and Martin were instrumental in battling the National Organization for Women to include lesbian rights....I loved the sniveling housewife who wimpered that there wouldn't be a problem if lesbians would just keep to themselves!
The accomplishments of Phyllis and Del are too lengthy to list here; the film really shines as it recites their litany of acheivement....NO SECRET ANYMORE skillfully evokes the desire and fear the book [LESBIAN/WOMAN] raised in lesbians who wanted to read it. One woman who didn't dare be seen checking the book out...hid it and then returned to the library over and over again to read it until she was done.
NO SECRET ANYMORE is packed full of vignettes and testimonials from the leaders of the lesbian and gay movement who lives were impacted by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. It is a moving tribute to these remarkable women.
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GAY TODAY
No Secret Anymore: At the Premiere
By Paul D. Cain
... And in San Francisco on February 13, an entire stadium of folks (in the gorgeous Castro Theater) assembled to praise and celebrate two women the day before their 50th anniversary.
"Old lesbians" Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon arguably birthed the American lesbian movement as we know it today. I had the privilege of interviewing them for my book, Leading the Parade, so you can discover more about their lives there. Briefly, they co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the most influential lesbian organization in America, in San Francisco in 1955; wrote Lesbian/Woman, the most influential lesbian book, in 1972; and have worked together tirelessly to promote peace and justice, primarily in the lesbian/gay community. Their primary vehicle for affecting the world these days is Old Lesbians Organizing for Change. While each woman is rather slight in stature, their bodies can barely contain their giant and generous spirits.
The pre-screening excitement was palpable, as so many people desired to demonstrate their love for the happy couple...Finally, shortly after 8 p.m., the documentary began. Not only is No Secret Anymore beautifully crafted, it truly captures the essence of Phyllis and Del. Humorist Kate Clinton's narrative barely intrudes on the story, as the couple and many famous observers (including Leading the Parade interviewees Ginny Apuzzo, Charlotte Bunch, Barbara Gittings, Barbara Grier, Joan Nestle, and Urvashi Vaid) discuss Del and Phyllis's work and impact on lesbians and others.
Unlike many of their early movement contemporaries, both women possess and demonstrate a healthy dose of self-esteem. (As Del notes, "When you accept yourself, you don't give a crap about what anybody thinks.") No Secret Anymore is inspiring and informative, fun and funny; indeed, the audience interrupted the film with so much applause that many remarks went unheard.
As the credits rolled following 55 minutes of sheer delight, we collectively leapt to our feet with cheers and applause.
© 1997-2003 BEI
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POPCORNQ at PLANET OUT
No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon
by Jenni Olson
After fifty years of partnership in love and activism, the grandmothers of the lesbian movement are profiled and honored in this wonderfully celebratory biography by noted lesbian photographer JEB.
When Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis (America's first lesbian rights organization) back in 1955 lesbian life in this country looked very different than it does today. This whirlwind overview takes us through the highlights (and lowlights) of the lesbian bars, pulp novels and politics of the era via archival footage of early gay rights demonstrations and interviews with many pioneers of the lesbian-feminist movement.
"No Secret Anymore" conveys how much Del and Phyllis have done over the years, from founding the lesbian rights movement to fighting against domestic violence. The pair emerge as powerful heroes for the next generation of lesbian activists -- coalition-building feminists who are fiercely committed to social change. This is the kind of film that makes you want to quit your day job and do something important to change the world.
Thank you, Del and Phyllis, for making it your day job to create a better world for all of us.
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NOE VALLEY VOICE February 2003
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon: Partners in Love and Activism
By Erin O'Briant
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon may be just as captivated as the rest of the audience on Feb. 13. That's the evening that No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, a documentary film about the lives of the two legendary lesbian rights activists, makes its world premiere at the Castro Theater.
The longtime partners and Noe Valley homeowners say they were glad to cooperate fully with filmmaker Joan E. Biren, who began making the documentary in 1999. Biren spent many hours quizzing the couple from behind her camera.
"We just sat around and talked, and she filmed. We've been doing this for four years, and I don't think we have a clue what we've said," laughs Lyon. A month before its debut, the film was still being completed, so Lyon and Martin weren't sure whether they'd see it before the public screening and celebration this month.
The two chat and laugh easily together--and finish one another's sentences--as one would expect of people who have been partners in love and activism for five decades. Indeed, the world debut of the film is the eve of the couple's 50th anniversary, on Valentine's Day. They're excited about the film screening and, it seems, a touch surprised to find their lives the subject of so much interest.
"We just did things, and I guess we just kept going," says Lyon of their half-century of activism. Martin agrees. "One thing just led to another."
The two were early members of the Daughters of Bilitis and were leaders in the modern lesbian rights movement, dating back to the 1950s. In more recent years, they've actively promoted rights for elders, both within and outside the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. In today's right-leaning political climate, Lyon notes, they're both increasingly concerned about everyone's civil rights. "And we thought the '50s were scary," Martin adds.
In many ways, they were. "We've come a long way from our goal in the 1950s, part of which was to get laws against sexual activity between consenting adults of the same sex wiped off the books. The other part was to be considered part of society," says Lyon, now 78. "We wanted our full rights and responsibilities," says Martin, 81. And they hoped to combat homophobia--a term that didn't even exist at that time.
Much has changed over the years, and Lyon and Martin were driving forces behind many of the hard-fought battles for LGBT rights, which, at the time they began their activism, were simply called gay rights. "It was a long time before the word 'lesbian' was even included in the name of Pride parades and that kind of thing," Martin notes.
Noe Valley isn't the same place it was 50 years ago, either. The couple have lived in the neighborhood since the days when it was called the Outer Mission. When they moved here in 1955, a car passing by their house on Duncan Street was an event.
"We would run to the window if we heard a car," remembers Lyon. Martin adds, "It was almost always a friend of ours."
They hardly had any neighbors. Now, of course, their hilly street is full of multiunit buildings. "It's amazing how many people live in that little area now," Lyon observes.
They remember a very different 24th Street, too. "A lot of the buildings were there," Lyon says, "but not all the restaurants and shops." They recall a movie theater, and Tuggey's Hardware was one of the major attractions on 24th Street during their first years in the neighborhood.
One thing that hasn't changed, though, is their steadfast partnership. Lots of people, straight and gay, would love to know how to keep a happy relationship going for 50 years.
But Lyon and Martin say there is no secret formula. "If we had a secret, we would have written a book and made a million dollars," says Lyon. "We love each other, we have similar interests. Our lives were very similar even before we met."
"And," jokes Martin, "we're both losing our memories at the same time."
It's a good thing they've got it all on film.
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