LGBTQ icon Phyllis Lyon dies at age 95

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- LGBTQ icon Phyllis Lyon has died of natural causes at age 95, Sen. Scott Wiener announced in a statement on Thursday.

Lyon is a pillar of the San Francisco LGBTQ community and a civil rights pioneer.

She co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the nation's first lesbian organization and was a journalist who began her career as a reporter in 1946.

Lyon and her wife, Del Martin, were the first to be married by Gavin Newsom during the so-called Winter of Love in Feb. 2004 at San Francisco City Hall after 54 years together.

"We lost a giant today," Sen. Wiener said. "Phyllis Lyon fought for LGBTQ equality when it was neither safe nor popular to do so. Phyllis and her wife Del Martin played a crucial role winning the rights and dignity our community now enjoys. We owe Phyllis immense gratitude for her work. Rest in power."