Margo St. James

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.

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