Urvashi Vaid

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Urvashi Vaid is an Indian-born American citizen who moved to the United States at age eight with her family. She is best known for her 25 years dedicated to promoting civil rights issues for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.

Political activism

Vaid was politically active from an early age, participating in the anti-Vietnam war movement, then at Vassar College, becoming active in a variety of feminist and human rights causes. She received a law degree from Northeastern University in Boston, where she founded an LGBT rights group. [link]

Vaid took over leadership of the NGLTF's Policy Institute in 1989, and quickly built the NGLTF into the nation's pre-eminent gay rights NGO, serving as the organization's executive director for three years. 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 is also known for her award winning book entitled , which won the Stonewall Book Award.

Vaid is an attorney and noted political activist. She is a former executive director of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), and she currently works at the Arcus Foundation, having just spent 5 years with the Ford Foundation.

Vaid is openly lesbian, and lives in New York City with her partner, noted comedian Kate Clinton.

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