Urvashi vaid biography of michael

The Powerful LGBT Activists

Full Name: Urvashi Vaid

Born: 8 October New Delhi, India Urvashi Vaid

Nationality: Indian - American Known for: Civil Rights & Anti-war Activism

Notable Work: Virtual Equality ()

Who is Urvashi vaid

Urvashi Vaid (8 October – 14 May ) was an Indian-born American LGBT rights activist, lawyer, and writer. An expert in gender and sexuality law, she was a consultant in attaining specific goals of social justice. She held a series of roles at the National LGBTQ Task Force. She is the author of Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation () and Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics ().

Early life Of Urvashi vaid

Urvashi Vaid was born on 8 October , in New Delhi, India and moved to Potsdam, New York, at age eight with her family, after her father took up a university teaching position. At age 11, she participated in the anti- Vietnam war movement. At Vassar College, she was active in a variety of political and social causes. She received a Juris Doctor degree from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston in , where she founded the Boston Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance, a non-partisan political organization that interviews and endorses candidates for political office and advocates for Boston's gay community.

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Political Activism

Vaid believed that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality will occur only when the larger institutions of society and the family are transformed to be more inclusive of racial, gender, and economic difference. Her book Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation () won a Stonewall Book Award in

Vaid became Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) in Vaid left NGLTF in December and wrote Virtual Equality (published in ). She returned to NGLTF from to as the director of its think tank, the

When Urvashi Vaid died at 63 in May after a valiant fight with breast cancer, thousands of LGBTQ people who had been touched by her decades of activism mourned her passing. Over a half-century of activism that began when she was only 11, Vaid worked on a breadth of issues, including LGBTQ civil rights, women’s rights, the rights of prisoners, immigration justice, and health care justice.

Vaid’s activist voice was unique and unequivocal. She insisted decades ago that the fight for LGBTQ rights must not be dismissed nor demeaned by the language of straight politicians or the religious right. At the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation in April , she said, “The gay rights movement is not a party. It is not a lifestyle. It is not a hair style. It is not a fad or a fringe or a sickness. It is not about sin or salvation. The gay rights movement is an integral part of the American promise of freedom.”

In a tribute to Vaid in The New Yorker magazine, Masha Gessen wrote that Vaid “was, almost certainly, the most prolific LGBTQ organizer in history.”

A fair and fitting assertion about the lesbian activist who for a decade led the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (now the National LGBTQ Task Force) through one of the most tumultuous periods in LGBTQ history, the AIDS crisis, first as media director and then as executive director. Vaid’s was a constant presence on the national political stage at a time when overt LGBTQ activism had yet to become mainstreamed. In Vaid was thrown out of an address being given on the AIDS crisis by President George H. W. Bush when she held up a sign that said: “Talk Is Cheap, AIDS Funding Is Not.” 

After Bush died in , Vaid told NPR’s “All Things Considered,” &#;The fact is that we were doing our best and hardest work in our community to build social services, to fight discrimination,&#; she said. &#;People were being rejected at hospitals. Peo

A giant image of Urvashi Vaid graced the screen on the back wall of the black box theater at Performance Space NY on April Vaid died last May, but her words and spirit were present at the marathon reading of her book “Virtual Equality,” curated by writer and activist Sarah Schulman.

“Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay & Lesbian Liberation” is a deeply researched history, by a lawyer, scholar, and lesbian of color, and a passionate personal examination and search for what “liberation” really means, and to whom.

More than 30 writers, artists, educators, and friends gathered for a good old-fashioned East Village marathon, reading passages from Vaid’s work, first published in , and still in print. 

The audience changed and grew throughout the afternoon, with an ebbing and flowing tide of mostly women, of all ages and genres. Some stayed for the entire 4-hour event, knowing that at a marathon (not a sprint) it’s okay to quietly get up for a break, a snack or beverage, or to greet friends.

Vaid’s spouse, comedian and activist Kate Clinton, her partner of more than 30 years, talked about their life together, and gave us “the backstory, because I can: the lows and highs, the despair and joy, the times when Urvashi would wrestle her imposter self into the fetal position.”

Clinton said Vaid’s life and work are being documented in film, with a short film about Vaid’s life in Provincetown to be presented at the Provincetown Film Festival, and a full-length documentary currently being made by Nancy Kates (“Regarding Susan Sontag,” “Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin”). And, Clinton said, The National LGBTQ+ Women’s Community Survey, which Vaid helped found, will be released this June.

Selections from Vaid’s book were read in chronological order, starting with the prefa

Indian-American LGBT rights activist, lawyer and writer (–)

Urvashi Vaid (October 8, – May 14, ) was an Indian-born American LGBT rightsactivist, lawyer, and writer. An expert in gender and sexuality law, she was a consultant in attaining specific goals of social justice. She held a series of roles at the National LGBTQ Task Force, serving as executive director from — the first woman of color to lead a national gay-and-lesbian organization. She is the author of Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation () and Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics ().

Early life and education

Urvashi Vaid was born on October 8, , in New Delhi, India to writer Krishna Baldev Vaid and poet and painter Champa née Bali Vaid. She was one of three daughters and moved to Potsdam, New York, in with her family after her father took a teaching position at State University of New York at Potsdam. She was politically active at a young age, writing letters to Richard Nixon in support of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, participating in anti-Vietnam War marches, and giving speeches during George McGovern's presidential campaign.

Vaid graduated from Potsdam High School in three years, in , and attended Vassar College, where she studied English literature and political science. At Vassar, she was active in a variety of political and social causes, including co-founding the Feminist Union on campus (in the context of Vassar's recent transition to coed) and participating in activism against apartheid. She graduated in After graduating from Vassar, Vaid moved to Boston, where she interned briefly at the Women's Prison Project and worked as legal secretary before beginning law school at the Northeastern University School of Law. She was politically active wh