COYOTE (CALL OFF YOUR OLD TIRED ETHICS), 1973-

Margaret Jean (Margo) St. James (MStJ) was born in 1937 in Bellingham, Washington, and graduated from Mount Baker High School in Deming, Washington, in 1955. She worked on her father's dairy farm, married, and had one son. She was later divorced and in 1959 moved to San Francisco, where she worked as a waitress, process server, gardener, carpenter's assistant, and dance instructor, and was founder of Margo's Miracle Maids, a domestic service. Following her conviction for prostitution, MStJ studied law at Lincoln University in San Francisco (1963-1964) and succeeded in getting her conviction overturned. In 1976 MStJ was licensed as a private investigator in California.

Seeing a need for a dialogue between feminists and prostitutes, MStJ organized WHOM (Whores, Housewives, and Other Mothers) in 1971 to bring together "straight" women and prostitutes to identify and work toward common goals. Although WHOM met only a few times, it became the forerunner of COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics), which MStJ founded on Mother's Day in 1973. A civil rights organization for prostitutes, COYOTE called for the decriminalization of prostitution and sought to provide legal and medical services for prostitutes. It also offered employment, health, and financial counseling, and worked to educate the public about prostitution through publications, speeches, and seminars.

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