Urvashi Vaid
| Urvashi Vaid | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 October 1958 New Delhi |
| Residence | Manhattan, New York; Provincetown, Massachusetts |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Vassar College; Northeastern University School of Law |
| Known for | Civil rights and anti-war activism |
| Notable work(s) | Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation (1996) |
| Home town | New Delhi |
| Partner | Kate Clinton |
Urvashi Vaid (b. 8 October 1958 in New Delhi, India) is an Indian-American activist who has promoted civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons for more than 25 years.
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[edit] Political activism
Vaid was born in New Delhi, and moved to the United States at age eight with her family. Vaid was politically active from an early age. At age 11, she participated in the anti-Vietnam war movement,[1] then at Vassar College, becoming active in a variety of feminist and human rights causes. She received a law degree from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston in 1983, 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.[1]
Vaid believes that true liberation of lesbians and gays from injustice will only occur when the larger institutions of society and the family are transformed through lesbians and gays working within mainstream groups for inclusion and change.[2] Her book Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation (1995), which won a Stonewall Book Award in 1996,[3] addresses her beliefs about mainstreaming.
Vaid became Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 1989,[4] and quickly built the NGLTF into the nation's pre-eminent gay rights NGO. She pushed gay issues into the public eye through coordinated media manipulation and staged numerous protests on such subjects as abortion and the Persian Gulf War. Vaid went on hiatus from the NGLTF between 1992 and 1997; it was during this period that she wrote Virtual Equality. When she resumed work at the NGLTF, she served for an additional three years as the executive director.
Vaid worked for five years at the Ford Foundation, and served as Executive Director of the Arcus Foundation[5] from 2005 through 2010.
In April 2009 Out magazine named her one of the 50 most influential people in the United States.[6]
Vaid shares homes in Manhattan and Provincetown, Massachusetts with her partner, comedian Kate Clinton.[7]
[edit] Works
- Vaid, Urvashi (1996). Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation. Anchor Books, Doubleday. ISBN 0385472986.
- Vaid, Urvashi; John D'Emilio, William B. Turner (2002). Creating Change: Sexuality, Public Policy, and Civil Rights. Stonewall Inn Editions. ISBN 0312287127.
- Vaid, Urvashi (2011). Dan Savage and Terry Miller. ed. It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living. Dutton. ISBN 0525952330.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Urvashi Vaid Biography". American Immigration Law Foundation. Archived from the original on 2007-03-24. http://web.archive.org/web/20070324210641/http://www.ailf.org/notable/iaa/ny2000/urvashi.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
- ^ "The Politics of Intersection". http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3693/is_199906/ai_n8834620. Retrieved 2007-10-18.[dead link]
- ^ "Stonewall Book Awards". American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/ala/glbtrt/stonewall/stonewallbook.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
- ^ "Urvashi Vaid to Join Arcus". Arcus Foundation. http://www.arcusfoundation.org/pages_2/news_arch_template.cfm?ID=34. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
- ^ "Board and Staff". ArcusFoundation.org. http://www.arcusfoundation.org/pages_2/board_staff.cfm. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
- ^ Power 50: Urvashi Vaid
- ^ "Urvashi Vaid". glbtq.com. 2005-12-21. http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/vaid_u.html. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
[edit] External links
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Urvashi Vaid on Charlie Rose
- Urvashi Vaid at the Internet Movie Database
- "Urvashi Vaid: We Need Progressive, Multi-Issue Movements". Laura Flanders. GRITtv. Free Speech TV, New York City. 23 December 2010. Retrieved on 9 January 2012.
- Works by or about Urvashi Vaid in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- 1958 births
- American people of Indian descent
- American women writers
- Indian emigrants to the United States
- Indian women writers
- Lesbian writers
- LGBT Asian Americans
- LGBT rights activists from the United States
- Living people
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- Northeastern University alumni
- People from New Delhi
- Vassar College alumni
