New York City Council Honors Ms. Foundation Co-Founder Gloria Steinem

In a Council session on Thursday, May 6, Members of the New York City Council Women's Caucus presented the following proclamation in honor of Ms. Foundation Co-founder Gloria Steinem and her 75th birthday.

The Council of the City of New York is honored to pay tribute to Gloria Steinem, on the occasion of her 75th birthday, for being vital force in the struggle for the rights of women, and the co-founder of Ms. Magazine, the Ms. Foundation for Women, The Women's Action Alliance, The National Women's Political Caucus, Voters for Choice and the Women's Media Center; and

WHEREAS: Gloria Steinem's great looks and aspirations to tap dance her way out of her native Toledo, Ohio, plus her top-notch journalistic skills, gave her the credibility to go undercover as a Playboy Bunny and expose their poor working conditions and low wages. She followed this with many consistently provocative magazine articles and also shared her signature satirical wit by writing the "surrealism in everyday life" segment for David Frost's TV show, "That Was the Week That Was"; and

WHEREAS: Gloria Steinem became a founding editor of New York Magazine in 1968 and one of our nation's first female political commentators with her column, "The City Politic." Her article "After Black Power, Women's Liberation" earned her the Penny-Missouri Journalism Award; and

WHEREAS: Gloria Steinem collaborated with Bella Abzug, Flo Kennedy, Robin Morgan and countless other feminists for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and the creation of the 1977 National Women's Conference. Even today, Ms. Steinem crisscrosses the country and the globe as a tireless organizer and passionate advocate for equal pay, reproductive rights, feminist political candidates, and organizations that fight domestic violence, pornography, and human trafficking; and

WHEREAS: Ms. Steinem was a backer of Marlo Thomas' "Free to Be You and Me" album, TV special and books. She was also among the first to recognize the brilliance of the future Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker. Ms. Steinem's own best-selling, life-changing books include "Outrageous Acts & Everyday Rebellions" and "Revolution from Within: The Book of Self-Esteem"; and

WHEREAS: A tremendous catalyst for societal change, Ms. Steinem and her consciousness-raising slogans remain as popular and powerful as ever. A few of her sayings include: "If a man could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament;" "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle;" and "We are becoming the men we wanted to marry." Ms. Steinem will again enlighten us with her forthcoming book, "Road to the Heart: America as if Everyone Mattered"; now, therefore

BE IT KNOWN: That on behalf of all of the Members of the New York City Council Women's Caucus, we honor Gloria Steinem for her extraordinary activism and visionary leadership, and and wishes her the very best on the occasion of her 75th Birthday.

Signed this 6th day of May in the year Two Thousand and Nine.
[signed] CHRISTINE C. QUINN, Speaker For the Entire Council	[signed] GALE A. BREWER Council Member, 6th District Manhattan
[signed] HELEN DIANE FOSTER Council Member, 16th District Bronx
[signed] DIANA REYNA Council Member, 34th District Brooklyn/Queens	[signed] DARLENE MEALY Chair, Women's Issues Committee Council Member, 41st District Brooklyn