Laura X got spousal rape banned in California. At 85, she scrapes by in a Berkeley hotel room

"In the 1960s, after protesting for the Free Speech Movement and marching through the streets of Berkeley in support of women's liberation, Laura started accumulating pamphlets, manifestos, posters and newspapers from the early days of feminism. The collection became so voluminous it morphed into the Women's History Research Center, with more than a million pieces of paper. Now microfilm of those archives is spread in libraries around the world."

"In 1978, Laura began crusading to make marital rape, then only outlawed in five states, a crime. Galvanized by the trial in Oregon of John Rideout, who was charged but acquitted of raping his wife, Greta, Laura created the The National Clearing House on Marital and Date Rape. She successfully lobbied to get California to criminalize spousal rape in 1979, and then spent the next 15 years helping to coordinate 45 other state campaigns. By 1993, all 50 states had outlawed it."

Laura X stood on stage with Martin Luther King, Jr. during the March on Washington. For more than 50 years her north Berkeley house served as a hub for social protest movements. She accumulated pamphlets, manifestos, posters and newspapers from early feminism that became the Women's History Research Center, containing more than a million pieces of paper. Microfilm of those archives is held in libraries around the world. In 1978 she began crusading to make marital rape a crime, galvanized by the John Rideout trial in Oregon. She created the National Clearing House on Marital and Date Rape, lobbied California to criminalize spousal rape in 1979, coordinated campaigns in 45 other states over 15 years, and helped achieve criminalization in all 50 states by 1993. Born Laura Rand Orthwein, Jr. in 1940 to a wealthy St. Louis family, she ran a busy household with multiple phone lines and volunteers, traveled nationally to protest and speak, appeared on national television, and currently lives in a small YMCA Hotel room in downtown Berkeley, relying on friends and supporters to help pay $1,200 per month rent.

Read at www.berkeleyside.org