Kate Marquez

Bio: A native Oregonian, Marquez is an historic relic—she was a sex worker and member of COYOTE, a sex workers’ rights organization, from 1979-83.  A proud mom and grandma, Marquez lives in Klamath Falls, where she’s serving her third term on the Klamath Community College Board. Marquez is a member of the Multnomah County Sex Trafficking Collaborative and is the sole trustee of the Carol Leigh Trust. Marquez currently works for Influents Innovation’s (Eugene) Project Impact, which is researching the effects of criminalization on the lives of Oregon sex workers and their families. Marquez is the author of an unpublished memoir and history of the early sex workers rights movement, titled How Prostitution Saved My Life.

Artist Statement: These memorial videos are short versions of longer works made by friends of Margo St. James’s and Carol Leigh. These short versions were made by Bambi Turner and Kate Marquez, who both worked on the longer version.

Full films are available at:

https://margostjames.com/  
https://oldprosonline.org/carol-leigh/