[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 75 (Friday, May 27, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         TRIBUTE TO KATE SWIFT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOE COURTNEY

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 26, 2011

  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Kate Swift, 
a recently deceased Connecticut writer who is best known for her 
tireless work to end sexism in the English language. Kate, a resident 
of East Haddam, died of abdominal cancer on May 14 at the age of 87.
  Born in Yonkers, NY, Kate attended Connecticut College in New London, 
CT. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
in 1944 with a degree in journalism and spent the next two years in the 
Women's Army Corps serving as an information and education specialist 
before being honorably discharged. In 1965 she made her way back to 
Connecticut to enter the news bureau at Yale University's School of 
Medicine.
  She began her writing career in the 1970s with her companion, Casey 
Miller, also a writer, who spent some of her career working in naval 
intelligence. While working with Casey to edit materials for a junior 
high school sex education program, the two noticed the dominance of 
male pronouns and references to men. They changed the language in the 
program to give girls a more prominent role and followed up by 
publishing their first article on the topic of gender-neutral language.
  Kate's proposals gained a great deal of traction over time. 
Newspapers, textbooks, and public speakers continue to avoid sexist 
language like ``firemen'' and ``stewardess'', instead preferring more 
gender-neutral references. Articles by Kate and Casey have been 
published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and New York 
magazine on a wide variety of topics relating to sexism in language.
  Since moving to East Haddam in 1972, Kate, a sharp intellect and 
incredibly talented writer, simply couldn't sit still. She was an 
activist heavily invested in women's rights and gay rights. She was a 
vocal advocate for Connecticut's marriage equality legislation and 
worked hard to help bring about its passage into law. She served on the 
Council of the Rathbun Free Memorial Library, the first Town Charter 
Commission, as well as the committee of the Connecticut Trails Council 
of Girl Scouts, and the East Haddam Democratic Town Committee for 
seventeen years. She traveled all over the world including to China for 
the UN's Fourth World Conference on Women.
  Kate Swift, through her push to end gender discrimination in the 
English language and tireless activism, demonstrated that she was a 
true visionary. She was, in many respects, ahead of her time. Kate left 
her mark by forever changing how we use language and by fighting hard 
to root out injustice where she found it in the world. I ask my 
colleagues to join me in praising the efforts and honoring the life of 
this remarkable woman.

                          ____________________