Diane Olson, Champion Of Equality, Dies

LOS ANGELES, CA — Funeral services were pending Thursday for Diane Olson, one-half of the pioneering Southland couple who helped lead the battle to legalize same-sex marriage in California and became the first such couple to be legally wed in Los Angeles County.

Olson, 65, died Wednesday at home in North Hills following a more than two-year battle with brain cancer, according to attorney Gloria Allred, who represented Olson and Robin Tyler in their extended battle to legally marry.

Olson and Tyler were married on June 16, 2008, shortly after the state Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal in California. Voters later that year passed Proposition 8, which again banned same-sex marriage in the state, but that proposition was struck down five years later in federal court.

Olson and Tyler were hailed as pioneers in the same-sex marriage fight, filing the first lawsuit in 2004 challenging a statewide ban on the practice. For four years prior to filing suit, the couple tried to apply for a marriage license in Beverly Hills, but were repeatedly turned down due to state law.

Olson, the granddaughter of Gov. Culbert Levy Olson, is survived by Tyler, sister Debra Deanne Olson and nieces Chrysta Olson Bilton and Kaitlyn Diane Olson.

City News Service; Photo: Diane Olson, left, and her wife Robin Tyler, of Los Angeles, show off their number 1 ticket for the first in-line for a seat in the Supreme Court while waiting to enter the court in Washington, Tuesday, April 28, 2015. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)