Lyon-Martin Health Center Not Closing Doors Just Yet

Lyon-Martin, the Bay Area health center started by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon (pictured) in 1979, has been struggling to stay afloat, but recent developments are making its financial future look brighter.

The center was close to closing its doors because of a cash crisis, but donations of more than $245,000 in the past two weeks will allow Lyon-Martin to stay open for at least another month.

Another good sign is that San Francisco sex shop Good Vibrations is offering shoppers the chance to donate money to Lyon-Martin's cause. Beginning Friday, the store's three San Francisco outlets began asking customers if they were willing to make a financial gift at the time of their purchase.

Click here to read more about Lyon-Martin or make a donation.

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Lesbian Health Center Cash Crisis

By Neal Broverman

Since the days of Jimmy Carter and Anita Bryant, Lyon-Martin Health Services has provided affordable health care to the Bay Area’s marginalized lesbian community. Now, 32 years after gay rights pioneers Phyllis Lyon (left) and partner Del Martin (right; who passed away in 2008) opened the center, the San Francisco institution is struggling to survive.

Lyon-Martin — which provides everything from cancer screenings to HIV care — is in the middle of an extreme cash shortage that puts it in risk of shutting down. The president of the center’s board of directors, Lauren Winter, tells The Advocate that the center needs $250,000 to keep their doors open, but, thankfully, recent donations have come in totaling over $200,000.

“Fundraising is going amazingly well,” Winter says. “We’re not out of the woods yet, but as far as clinic closure, things are looking better. We’re still taking appointments.”

Winter says the economy has done a number on the center’s finances, but she’s thankful that all sectors of San Francisco’s LGBT community have come out to help the center in its time of need.

“I guess the community loves us,” Winter says, noting that men, women, and transgender people have all opened their checkbooks for Lyon-Martin. “But it’s a wake-up call for all LGBT clinics. We have to work together and donate together to keep services like this around.”

Click here to learn more and donate.

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