Rosemary Dempsey is an American activist who has served many roles in second wave feminism, civil rights movements, and anti-war protests. Her most notable positions were Vice President for Action of the National Organization for Women starting in 1990 and Director for the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy.

Education and early activism

Dempsey earned her B.A in sociology from the College of New Rochelle in 1967, which was a private, all women's Catholic college. It is known as the first Catholic women's college in New York State when it was founded in 1904. In the Fall of 2016, the College of New Rochelle admitted men for the first time. Later she earned her Juris Doctor from Rutgers University Law School. As a young student, she began her activist career speaking out during the civil rights movement in the 1960s and participating in anti-war protests.

Career highlights

  • Founded "New Jersey Women Take Back the Night," with the goal to generate public awareness and lobby legislators for the fight against violence against women She says, "[NOW] came along at a time in my life when I had little children, and I needed to connect with some meaningful movement." At this time women were making 58% of what men made, so it was at the forefront of NOW's work.

Dempsey was also Vice President of NOW when Justice Clarence Thomas was nominated as a Supreme Court Justice. She was quoted saying that Thomas' hearing was a "collective click" for women all over the nation.

Dempsey helped plan the "We Won't Go Back!" March for Women's Lives in Washington DC that took place on April 5, 1992. This march was sponsored by NOW, and advocated for abortion rights in America. This walk had over half a million attendees, and was organized to impress lawmakers and the public during a time when the Supreme Court was hearing a case that had the ability to severely limit women's rights. The New York Times wrote an article that day outlining the dangers of the Supreme Court Case.<blockquote>On April 22, the High Court will hear arguments on a Pennsylvania law that seeks to limit access to abortion through a variety of regulations, including a 24-hour waiting period and a requirement that women seeking abortions notify their husbands. Many people on both sides see that case as a potential vehicle for overturning Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile, some states have adopted even stricter limits.

Domestic violence

In 1991, there were roughly 1 million incidents reported of domestic violence towards women, and another 3 million incidents were predicted as unreported. Domestic violence had become so common in society at the time that it had been named the top health risk against women. She was a founding member of "New Jersey Women Take Back the Night," an organization that helped to generate public awareness for violence against women. This group also lobbied legislators to gain support for the movement to stop violence against women, and create laws to protect women. This was the start to the idea of the Violence Against Women Act. She also chaired a coalition to pass lesbian and gay rights legislation in New Jersey.

Personal life

Dempsey was born in Connecticut in 1946, and earned her bachelor's degree in New York before moving to New Jersey for law school. She did most of her activist work out of New Jersey, and raised her two children there as well who were born in 1969 and 1970.

She gained national media attention after gaining full custody of her two children even though she was openly gay in 1979. This made it easier for future homosexual couples looking to gain legal custody of their children. She and her long-time partner, Kim Costanza, owned a gay restaurant, bar and guest house in Pass-A-Grille, Florida that has since been closed.