Thirty Ninth Issue: Marie Equi

Marie Equi was the first publicly known lesbian on the West Coast of the United States. Marie was born in 1872, and was one of the first doctors in the American West, working with poorer and working class patients. She was also a social activist for labor rights and women’s rights at the time.

Marie’s father was Italian American, and her mother was Irish American. She was the fifth daughter in her family, and only went to high school for a year before dropping out to go work in a textile mill, which was what her hometown of New Bedford was known for. In 1892, Marie joined her girlfriend Bessie Holcomb and went to a homestead in Oregon along the river. The two of them lived together in what was then known as a ‘romantic friendship’ or ‘Boston marriage’, but Marie was gay.

 

 

The two of them had a small house they lived in together, but it wasn’t long till controversy came their way. In 1893, the local newspaper reported that Bessie, a teacher, had not been paid her full salary. Marie waited outside Bessie’s boss’ office, until he finally came out. The man was called Reverend Orson D. Taylor and was also a local land developer. The people in town didn’t like him because he had ripped them off, and when Marie horsewhipped him for not paying Bessie, the town gathered round and cheered. According to the newspaper article, they later held a raffle for the whip and gave the proceeds to Marie and Bessie.

In 1897, Marie and Bessie moved to San Francisco, where Marie began to study medicine. Sometime during her studies, she broke up with Bessie, and went to Portland to finish her studies in 1903 and become a doctor. Marie started her own general practice in Portland in 1905, focusing on women and children. In 1906, San Francisco suffered an earthquake and fire (this was one of the worst natural disasters in US history, if you’d like to read more you can start here). Marie joined a group of doctors and nurses to provide medical care to victims, for which she received a commendation from the US Army. She met a woman named Harriet Speckart, a young heiress, and began a relationship with her. This caused issue with Harriet trying to access her inheritance, but she did not leave Marie even with these complications.

Marie at one point began to provide abortions for women. She charged richer ladies more, which helped cover the costs of poorer ladies. She never faced legal problems despite the fact that abortion was illegal. She didn’t just do abortions, but continued to do general practice, and perhaps it was this that allowed her to escape scrutiny by city and state officials.

 

 

Marie worked with Portland’s Birth Control League when discussing such things was illegal, and was arrested with Margaret Sanger in 1916 for disseminating birth control information. When she was released from jail, she continued to do her work, undaunted. Marie also worked for women’s suffrage, and celebrated when women got the right to vote in Oregon in 1912.

In 1913, Marie became involved in a strike of cannery workers, mostly women, who were protesting poor working conditions and low wages. Socialists and the Industrial Workers of the World (a large labor union which was at its strongest in the first few decades of the 20^th century) joined the strike, and Marie became one of the leaders due to her status as a doctor. When police stormed the strikers, Marie was clubbed by an officer. The strike ended but the workers did not achieve their goals. The failure of this strike and the police brutality radicalized Marie, and got her even more interested in social activism.

Marie began marching with unemployed men, and worked for free speech. She aligned herself with the IWW, and said she was a Radical Socialist and Anarchist. As the US began to prepare to enter WWI, Portland and its people became very nationalistic, and Marie, against the war, found herself even more of an outsider. She was arrested during a pre-war campaign in Portland, after a fight broke out, and kept protesting as the US joined the war in 1917. The federal government began to take notice, and Marie was convicted of sedition. She tried to appeal, but was rejected, and had to go to prison for a year. Marie was in San Quentin State Prison, the only political prisoner in her section of the prison.

Marie had issues with tuberculosis in prison, but kept up with moral support from the many visitors she had. After ten months, she was freed. Marie then returned to her medical practice. At this point she was almost fifty years old. Marie and Harriet adopted a baby girl, Mary. Mary called Harriet ‘ma’ and Marie ‘da’ since everyone else called Marie ‘doc’. Marie and Harriet eventually separated, but stayed close until Harriet died in 1927. Marie was involved with other women, developing a crush on Margaret Sanger (noted proponent of birth control but also proponent of eugenics). She wrote letters to her that mentioned their relationship with each other when she had visited, so they had an affair, basically. Below is a picture of Marie with Mary (she brought her to rallies and protests, instructing her to run if things went south).

 

Between 1926 and 1936, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (a fascinating woman in her own right) lived with Marie and helped care for her daughter, as Harriet had died. Elizabeth had health issues involving depression and exhaustion from her work, so it did them all good to live together. In 1930, Marie had a heart attack, so she sold her medical practice and Elizabeth took care of them. Eventually though, Elizabeth moved back to the East Coast, where she became the leader of Communist Party USA.

Once Elizabeth left, and Marie’s daughter Mary eloped, Marie lived quietly alone. Many radical leaders of the time visited her at her home, revering her for her actions years before for their causes. In 1950, Marie broke her hip, and moved to a nursing home. She died two years later, eighty years old. She is buried next to Harriet Speckart in Portland. Her daughter, Mary, grew up to be the first female pilot in Oregon.