Birthdays
Profiles of LGBT people, from the past and today – and celebrating their birthdays! All Birthdays →
Gail Laughlin
Gail Laughlin was born in Robbinston, Maine, on May 7, 1868. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1894 and went on to earn a law degree from Cornell Law School in 1898. She practiced law in New York City and worked as an inspector for the U.S. Industrial Commission, reporting on the working conditions of people employed in domestic service. In 1902, Laughlin became a prolific speaker who traveled the country on behalf of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. As a NAWSA organizer, Laughlin worked with Mary Simpson Sperry, the President of the California Woman Suffrage Association. Laughlin also became acquainted with Sperry’s daughter, Mary Austin Sperry, a San Francisco physician. In 1907, Laughlin and the younger Sperry moved to Denver, where Laughlin opened a law office and Sperry worked as a physician. Sperry and Laughlin were well-known in social circles and recognized as one of many women couples who had committed their lives together in what is often referred to as a Boston marriage.
In 1914, Sperry and Laughlin returned to San Francisco. Laughlin opened her third law office, served as a judge in the police courts, and drafted and advocated for the adoption of a California law permitting women to serve on juries. Laughlin co-founded the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs in 1919. When the influenza epidemic hit San Francisco in 1919, Sperry devoted long hours to providing medical treatment to the thousands of people afflicted. Ultimately, she succumbed to exhaustion and illness herself. Sperry’s death on May 7, 1919, devastated Laughlin. In her will, Sperry requested that Laughlin care for her remains and property. This resulted in a contentious court dispute with the Sperry family. Laughlin won the dispute and kept Sperry’s ashes with her for the rest of her life.
In 1924, Laughlin returned to her childhood home in Portland, Maine. She continued the fight for women’s rights through her work with the National Woman’s Party by attempting to secure the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Laughlin was elected to the Maine State Legislature in 1929 and to the Maine State Senate in 1935; in both chambers she advocated for the rights of women. She passed away in 1952, requesting that her remains be buried with Sperry’s under a headstone bearing both of their names.
For more on Laughlin and her relationship with Sperry, see Wendy Rouse, “Gender, Sexuality and Love Between Women in California's Suffrage Campaign,” California History 97, no. 4 (Fall 2020): 144-150; Wendy Rouse, Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Suffrage Movement ( New York: New York University Press, 2022). For an OutHistory exhibit that addresses Laughlin, see The Queer History of Women's Suffrage: Scholarship and Censorship in 2025, by Wendy Rouse.
In 1914, Sperry and Laughlin returned to San Francisco. Laughlin opened her third law office, served as a judge in the police courts, and drafted and advocated for the adoption of a California law permitting women to serve on juries. Laughlin co-founded the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs in 1919. When the influenza epidemic hit San Francisco in 1919, Sperry devoted long hours to providing medical treatment to the thousands of people afflicted. Ultimately, she succumbed to exhaustion and illness herself. Sperry’s death on May 7, 1919, devastated Laughlin. In her will, Sperry requested that Laughlin care for her remains and property. This resulted in a contentious court dispute with the Sperry family. Laughlin won the dispute and kept Sperry’s ashes with her for the rest of her life.
In 1924, Laughlin returned to her childhood home in Portland, Maine. She continued the fight for women’s rights through her work with the National Woman’s Party by attempting to secure the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Laughlin was elected to the Maine State Legislature in 1929 and to the Maine State Senate in 1935; in both chambers she advocated for the rights of women. She passed away in 1952, requesting that her remains be buried with Sperry’s under a headstone bearing both of their names.
For more on Laughlin and her relationship with Sperry, see Wendy Rouse, “Gender, Sexuality and Love Between Women in California's Suffrage Campaign,” California History 97, no. 4 (Fall 2020): 144-150; Wendy Rouse, Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Suffrage Movement ( New York: New York University Press, 2022). For an OutHistory exhibit that addresses Laughlin, see The Queer History of Women's Suffrage: Scholarship and Censorship in 2025, by Wendy Rouse.