She joined the National Organization for Women in 1969, and that same year she ran for mayor of the city of Syracuse, New York, becoming the first female mayoral candidate in the history of New York. Also in 1969, she and Faith Seidenberg entered the all-male establishment McSorley’s Old Ale House and were refused service. They sued for discrimination. The case decision made the front page of "The New York Times" on June 26, 1970. The suit, "Seidenberg v. McSorleys' Old Ale House" (1970, United States District Court, S. D. New York) established that, as a public place, the ale house could not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.