 Margo
St. James
Margo St. James, who in 1973 founded the first prostitutes
rights organization in the US, Call Off Your
Old Tired Ethics (COYOTE), lives in
San Francisco and is available as a guest lecturer for public
and private institutions.
In spite of laws that render organizing prostitutes a felony
in California, Margo continues to advocate on behalf of women
and all marginalized people. Throughout the 1970's and 1980's,
she testified before state and international governments on
trafficking and violence against women, and the social effects
of prohibiting adult consentual behavior. Locally, she was a
member of the Women's Advisory Committee to the Chief of Police,
helping integrate women into the department, and worked with the
Department of Public Health and the County Sheriff to reverse
City policy that mandated penicillin injections and quarantining
of all women arrested for prostitution.
While attending the 1974 UNESCO Conference in Paris,
Margo and other activists met with Simone deBeauvior, who later
convinced them to form the International Committee for
Prostitutes Rights (ICPR). Eleven years later, this
international network of women's rights activists coalesced at
the first of two World Whores Congresses in Amsterdam.
The second in 1986, was held at the European Parliament in
Brussels, both of which Margo organized.
A Vindication of the Rights of Whores, the
transcribed version of the Congresses, with a forward by Margo
St. James, was published by Seal Press in 1988 and reflects the
tenor of both global conferences, complete with inspiring
solidarity and fear of official reprisal. At the Congresses,
women with nothing left to lose "came out" as sex
workers and testified about working conditions and official as
well as unspoken policies in their countries, consequences for
which could have rendered them nationless.
The Hooker's Ball, an annual event Margo is well known
for, served to fund COYOTE over the years. After an eight
year hiatus in the South of France, Margo returned to San
Francisco and in 1995, brought back the Hooker's Ball. The 1996
Hooker's Ball was held at the Maritime Hall on October 26, 1996
and was dedicated to the pioneer women of the Barbary Coast
whose heroism and contributions to taming the West were under
represented in History.
Recently, Margo ran for San Francisco Board Supervisor,
placing 7th in a field of 27 candidates vying for 6 open
City-wide seats. She has been a guest lecturer at Stanford
University, Chabot College and debated the chief proponent of
the anti-immigrant measure, proposition 187. Over her career,
Margo has lectured at Hastings College of the Law, Harvard
University, San Francisco University, UC Berkeley, University of
Western Washington among others, and been gust speaker at
American Bar Association conferences, many nationally syndicated
television shows and appeared in Florida with G. Gordon Liddy
following publication of his book, Will. Margo announced then
the name of her book, Won't, which remains unwritten.
Margo St. James was born in Bellingham Washington, on
September 12, 1937. Margo moved to San Francisco in 1959 joining
the Beatnik scene in North Beach. She was erroneously arrested
for prostitution in 1962 and while working for the bail bondsman
in order to pay off her bail, she met famed defense attorney
Vincent Hallinan who persuaded her to go to law school. Though
she never graduated, her education from Lincoln Law School
enabled her to successfully appeal her conviction and later
Margo became one of California's first women private
investigators.
Original Link: http://www.freedomusa.org/coyotela/margo.html
|
