Category: Notable People

Sharmus Outlaw was a dedicated activist and advocate for health care access for the trans community. She was a policy advocate for Best Practices Policy Alliance, U.S. representative for the Red Umbrella Fund, founder of Different Avenues in Washington, D.C., and had 25 years’ outreach experience in D.C., North Carolina, and Maryland. Sadly, she passed away in July 2016. The Sharmus Outlaw Advocacy and Rights (SOAR) Institute in NYC and the Outlaw Project in Arizona are both named in her honor.

Giselle-Marie is a stripper, activist, and creator of the NYC Stripper Strike, a national movement launched in 2017 to inspire and aid strippers to advocate for the changes they want to see in the clubs: fair treatment and the abolishment of racism in strip clubs everywhere.

The Lusty Lady was a peep show establishment in Seattle, WA, and San Francisco, CA. The San Francisco branch was bought by the strippers who worked there, and they formed a worker cooperative. It was already unique for being a unionized business. Dancers received an hourly wage and tips on top of that wage.

In a historic move, full service workers in Lyon, France, occupied five Catholic churches for eight days and garnered international support and recognition. They were protesting laws that criminalized their clients, police fines, and destruction and gentrification of the red light districts in France.

AKA Scarlot Harlot, Carol Leigh was a filmmaker, artist, author, and sex worker rights activist — she coined the term “sex worker” in 1978 at a Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media conference. In Leigh’s essay “Inventing Sex Work” (published later), she writes: “I invented sex work. Not the activity, of course. The term. This invention was motivated by my desire to reconcile my feminist goals with the reality of my life and the lives of the women I knew. I wanted to create an atmosphere of tolerance within and outside the women’s movement for women working in the sex industry.” Leigh also chaired Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival and was the director at Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network (BAYSWAN). She was known throughout the activist community as a continually loving, inspirational, and supportive mentor.

Margo St. James was the founder of Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics (COYOTE) and St. James Infirmary Clinic serving sex workers in San Francisco. St. James was instrumental in building the activist scene in California, serving and protecting sex workers and LGBTQAI+ folx, and opening crucial litigation in Rhode Island (COYOTE v. Roberts), arguing that the state had too much authority over people’s personal sexual lives and choices. She was also famous for her successful and creative fundraising, such as the annual Hooker’s Ball.

Margo St. James, Advocate for Sex Workers, Dies at 83 (The New York Times, January 20, 2021)

Dame Catherine Healy in New Zealand

Dame Catherine Healy was a founding member of the New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective (NZPC), awarded New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal in 1993, and appointed Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth II for her work to better the lives of sex workers. Her campaign with NZPC helped write and pass the Prostitute Reform Act to allow brothels to operate as legitimate businesses. She is also an author and field researcher and has been invited to speak at the House of Commons and Oxford University, among other institutions, to discuss the rights of sex workers.

Represented the Democratic party in the 11th District of Hillsborough, New Hampshire, from December 3, 2014, to December 5, 2018. Edwards’ platform included criminal justice reform, marriage equality, education reform, and maintaining New Hampshire’s tax advantages. The bills she introduced to the House include (but are not limited to): permitting qualifying patients and designated caregivers to cultivate cannabis for therapeutic use (HB1476), removing criminal laws related to prostitution (HB1614), establishing a committee to study the decriminalization of sex work (HB287), and reducing the criminal penalty for certain controlled drugs (HB1792). We applaud and value her commitment to representing the needs of her constituents in her political career.

“How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and humans in the same human race?”  — Marsha P. Johnson

Marsha P. Johnson is most recognized for her involvement in the Stonewall Inn riots in 1969. She co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Sylvia Rivera and was an AIDS activist with ACT UP. She was also a performer, model, and a prominent figure in the community.

“We have to look for one another because we’re all we got. The rest of the world really doesn’t give a shit whether we live or die. And the thing is, when the dust settles, I want a whole bunch of transgender girls to stand up and say: I’m still fucking here.”  — Miss Major

Miss Major is a leader and former sex worker in the trans community in New York City and California. She experienced, like so many others, violence at the hands of police and served five years in prison for her activist work. While in prison, she connected with Frank “Big Black” Smith who taught her more about community organizing and gave her new hope for building up the transgender community and continuing to provide the advocacy and care they need. During the AIDS crisis, she provided funds for funerals and was an active caregiver for those affected in her community in San Diego.