imported>SdkbBot: /* Awards */General fixes, removed erroneous space

2021-06-26T09:17:04Z

Awards: General fixes, removed erroneous space

New page

{{short description|LGBT rights activist, lawyer and writer}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Urvashi Vaid The Laura Flanders Show 2014.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Vaid in a 2014 interview
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1958|10|08|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[New Delhi]], [[India]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = American
| citizenship =
| other_names =
| known_for = Civil rights and anti-war activism
| occupation =
| alma_mater = [[Vassar College]];<br/>[[Northeastern University School of Law]]
| years_active =
| partner = [[Kate Clinton]]
| notable_works = ''[[Virtual Equality]]'' (1996)
}}
'''Urvashi Vaid''' (born 8 October 1958) is an [[United States|American]] [[LGBT rights in the United States|LGBT rights]] [[activist]], lawyer and writer. An expert in gender and sexuality law, she is a consultant in attaining specific goals of social justice. Vaid has held a series of roles at the [[National LGBTQ Task Force]]. She is the author of ''[[Virtual Equality|Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation]]'' (1995) and ''Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics'' (2012).

==Early life==

Vaid was born in [[New Delhi]], India, and moved to the United States at age eight with her family. At age 11, she participated in the anti-[[Vietnam war]] movement.<ref name=ailf>{{cite web|url=http://www.ailf.org/notable/iaa/ny2000/urvashi.htm |title=Urvashi Vaid Biography |work=American Immigration Law Foundation |access-date=2007-04-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070324210641/http://www.ailf.org/notable/iaa/ny2000/urvashi.htm |archive-date=2007-03-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref> At [[Vassar College]], she was active in a variety of political and social causes. She received a [[Juris Doctor|J.D.]] 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.<ref name=ailf />

==Career==
Vaid is CEO of the Vaid Group LLC, which works with social justice innovators, movements and organizations to address structural inequalities based on sexual orientation, gender identity, race, gender and economic status.

She was the Director of the Engaging Tradition Project at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School from 2011 to 2015. The project focused on the way tradition is used in movements for gender and sexuality to inform, enable or limit the movement.<ref name="urvashivaid.net">http://urvashivaid.net/wp/?page_id=2</ref> Vaid spent ten years working in global philanthropic organizations, serving as Executive Director of the Arcus Foundation (2005-2010) and Deputy Director of Governance and Civil Society Unit of the Ford Foundation (2000-2005).

Vaid is the founder of LPAC, the first lesbian [[Super PAC]], which was launched in July 2012. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Gill Foundation, which is dedicated to achieving equal opportunity for all, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. She is founder of The Vaid Group, a consulting practice that advises individuals and organizations working to achieve social justice in a wide range of fields.<ref name="urvashivaid.net"/>

For more than 10 years, Vaid worked in various capacities at the [[National LGBTQ Task Force]] (NGLTF), the oldest national LGBT civil rights organization; first as its media director, then as executive director, and as director of its Policy Institute Think-tank. From 1983 to 1986, Vaid was staff attorney at the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where she initiated the organization's work on HIV/AIDS in prisons.<ref name="urvashivaid.net"/>

== Political activism ==

Vaid believes that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality will only occur when the larger institutions of society and the family are transformed to be more inclusive of racial, gender, economic difference.<ref name=poi>{{cite news | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3693/is_199906/ai_n8834620 |title=The Politics of Intersection |access-date=2007-10-18}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=RjwilmsiBot}}</ref> Her book ''[[Virtual Equality|Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation]]'' (1995), which won a [[Stonewall Book Award]] in 1996,<ref name=sba>{{cite web|url=http://www.ala.org/ala/glbtrt/stonewall/stonewallbook.htm |title=Stonewall Book Awards |work=[[American Library Association]] |access-date=2007-04-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070407193541/http://www.ala.org/ala/glbtrt/stonewall/stonewallbook.htm |archive-date=2007-04-07 }}</ref> makes an argument that mainstreaming sexuality into the status quo is not the same as transforming societal institutions to make them more equitable. Her book ''Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics'' (2012) critiques the racial and gender bias of mainstream LGBT movement and continues her argument that engagement with social justice is what will enable all parts of the LGBT community to realize equality and justice.

[[File:Urvashi Vaid at the 1993 NGLTF Creating Change Conference.jpg|thumb|left|Vaid at the 1993 [[National LGBTQ Task Force]]'s Creating Change Conference]]
Vaid became Executive Director of the [[National Gay and Lesbian Task Force]] in 1989.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arcusfoundation.org/pages_2/news_arch_template.cfm?ID=34 |publisher=Arcus Foundation |title=Urvashi Vaid to Join Arcus |access-date=30 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716104721/http://www.arcusfoundation.org/pages_2/news_arch_template.cfm?ID=34 |archive-date=16 July 2011 }}</ref> She pushed gay issues into the public eye through coordinated [[media manipulation]] and staged numerous protests on such subjects as [[abortion]] and the [[Gulf War|Persian Gulf War]]. Vaid left NGLTF in December 1992 and wrote ''Virtual Equality'' (published in 1995). She returned to NGLTF from 1997-2000 as the director of its think tank, the NGLTF Policy Institute, where she initiated work on Racial and Economic Justice, religious and faith organizing, and social science research.

Vaid worked for five years at the [[Ford Foundation]], and served as Executive Director of the [[Arcus Foundation]]<ref name=arcus>{{cite web |url=http://www.arcusfoundation.org/pages_2/board_staff.cfm |title=Board and Staff |work=ArcusFoundation.org |access-date=2009-10-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091003051445/http://www.arcusfoundation.org/pages_2/board_staff.cfm |archive-date=2009-10-03 }}</ref> from 2005 through 2010.

Vaid has served on the board of the [[Gill Foundation]] from 2004-2014.<ref name=gill>{{cite web |url=http://gillfoundation.org/board-member/urvashi-vaid/ |title=Urvashi Vaid |work=GillFoundation.org |access-date=2013-06-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408183047/http://gillfoundation.org/board-member/urvashi-vaid/ |archive-date=2013-04-08 }}</ref>

In April 2009 [[Out (magazine)|''Out'']] magazine named her one of the 50 most influential LGBT people in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.out.com/power50/covers.asp?category=50.%20Urvashi%20Vaid |title=Power 50: Urvashi Vaid |access-date=2013-12-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929031736/http://www.out.com/power50/covers.asp?category=50.%20Urvashi%20Vaid |archive-date=September 29, 2011 }}</ref>

After the release of her book ''Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics'' (2012),<ref>{{Cite web|last=Earle|first=Talia|date=March 13, 2014|title=Book review: Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics, by Urvashi Vaid|url=https://www.glbtrt.ala.org/reviews/irresistible-revolution-confronting-race-class-and-the-assumptions-of-lgbt-politics/|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-20|website=Rainbow Round Table Book and Media Reviews|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kerr|first=Theodore|date=2012-11-04|title='Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics' by Urvashi Vaid|url=https://www.lambdaliterary.org/2012/11/irresistible-revolution-confronting-race-class-and-the-assumptions-of-lgbt-politics-by-urvashi-vaid/|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-20|website=Lambda Literary|language=en}}</ref> Vaid told ''Curve'' magazine that her biggest fear was that LGBT communities would get preoccupied by the wins in the fight for marriage equality and slow down their movement. She argued for a more inclusive movement, one that would encompass everyone regardless of race, class, ethnicity, age, or ability.<ref>http://www.curvemag.com/Curve-Magazine/Web-Articles-2013/Irresistible-Revolutionary/</ref>

Vaid hopes that the future of LGBT communities will accomplish two things. "One is to take care of the parts of our community that are less powerful. That means low-income LGBT people, transgender people and our community's women, whose rights are getting the crap kicked out of them, parts of our community across the board -- kids, old gay people" and "The second thing I would love to see happen is for the LGBT community to use its political power and access to create a more just society for all."<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlotte-robinson/urvashi-vaid-talks-future_b_5996938.html | work=Huffington Post | title=Urvashi Vaid Talks Future of LGBT Equality and Being Honored by GLAD (AUDIO) | date=2014-10-17}}</ref>

==Personal life ==

Vaid shares homes in [[Manhattan]] and [[Provincetown, Massachusetts]] with her [[domestic partner|partner]], comedian [[Kate Clinton]].<ref name=glbtq>{{cite web|url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/vaid_u.html |title=Urvashi Vaid |date=2005-12-21 |access-date=2007-04-11 |work=[[glbtq.com]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070419120558/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/vaid_u.html |archive-date=2007-04-19 }}</ref>

Vaid is an aunt of [[Alok Vaid-Menon]], a transgender activist and performer.<ref>Alok Vaid-Menon, [https://www.alokvmenon.com/blog/2014/6/4/when-representation-isnt-enough-why-all-of-us-arent-proud "WHEN REPRESENTATION ISN’T ENOUGH: WHY ALL OF US AREN’T PROUD"], 4 June 2014. Accessed 9 September 2020.</ref>

==Awards==
* 1996: [[Stonewall Book Awards]]
*1996: [[Lambda Legal]] Lambda Liberty Award<ref>[http://www.qrd.org/qrd/orgs/LLDEF/1996/liberty.awards-04.24.96]</ref>
* 1997: [[Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund]] Civil Rights Leadership Award<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/09/style/benefits-534340.html?pagewanted=all]</ref>
*1999: [[City University of New York, Queens College of Law]] Honorary Degree<ref>[http://www1.cuny.edu/events/press/grad99.html]</ref>
*2002: [[American Foundation for AIDS Research]] Honoring With Pride Award<ref>[http://www.amfar.org/in-the-spotlight/awards-of-courage/2002-honoring-with-pride-urvashi-vaid/]</ref>
*2006: [[National Lesbian and Gay Law Association]], Dan Bradley Award
*2008: [[Gay Men's Health Crisis]] Lifetime Achievement Award<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcXVtwE2Zmk]</ref>
*2010: [[Services and Advocacy for LGBT Elders]] Ken Dawson Advocacy Award<ref>[https://vimeo.com/16431993]</ref>
*2013: [[American Library Association]] Over The Rainbow project award for ''Irresistible Revolution''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics {{!}} Awards & Grants|url=http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/irresistible-revolution-confronting-race-class-and-assumptions-lgbt-politics|access-date=2021-01-20|website=www.ala.org}}</ref>
*2014: [[33rd Winter Roundtable, Columbia Teachers College, Columbia University]] Social Justice Action Award<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tc.columbia.edu/conferences/roundtable/award-recipients/social-justice-action-award/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-10-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151020004541/http://www.tc.columbia.edu/conferences/roundtable/award-recipients/social-justice-action-award/ |archive-date=2015-10-20 }}</ref>
* 2014: [[Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders|GLAD]] Spirit of Justice Award<ref>{{Cite web|title = GLAD / Events|url = https://www.glad.org/events/14SOJ|website = Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders|access-date = 2015-05-30|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150509072852/http://www.glad.org/events/14SOJ|archive-date = 2015-05-09}}</ref>
* 2015: Honorary Degree [[Kalamazoo College]]<ref>[http://www.kzoo.edu/news/k-commencement-2015/]</ref>

== Works ==
* {{cite book |first=Urvashi |last=Vaid |year=1996 |publisher=[[Anchor Books]], [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |isbn=0-385-47298-6 |title=Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/virtualequalitym00vaid }}
* {{cite book |first=Urvashi |last=Vaid |author2=John D'Emilio |author3=William B. Turner |year=2002 |publisher=[[Stonewall Inn Editions]]|isbn=0-312-28712-7 |title=Creating Change: Sexuality, Public Policy, and Civil Rights}}
* {{cite book |first=Urvashi |last=Vaid |editor1=Dan Savage |editor-link=Dan Savage |editor2=Terry Miller |year=2011 |publisher=[[Dutton Publishing|Dutton]]|isbn= 978-0525952336 |title=It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living|title-link=It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living }}
* Vaid, Urvashi. (2012) ''Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics''. Magnus Books. {{ISBN|978-1936833290}}

==In popular culture==
Her name appears in the lyrics of the [[Le Tigre]] song "[[Hot Topic (song)|Hot Topic]]."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://slate.com/culture/2019/10/hot-topic-lyrics-le-tigre-who-is.html|title=57 Champions of Queer Feminism, All Name-Dropped in One Impossibly Catchy Song|first=Tammy|last=Oler|date=October 31, 2019|website=Slate Magazine}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{cite book|last1=Gambone|first1=Philip|title=Travels in a Gay Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Americans (Living out : gay and lesbian autobiographies)|date=2010|publisher=University of Wisconsin|isbn=9781101972342|oclc=940731853}}

==External links==
*{{C-SPAN|urvashivaid}}
*{{Charlie Rose view|4564}}
*{{IMDb name|1002120}}
*{{Cite episode | title = Urvashi Vaid: We Need Progressive, Multi-Issue Movements | url = http://blip.tv/grittv/grittv-urvashi-vaid-we-need-progressive-multi-issue-movements-4569390 | access-date = 9 January 2012 | series = [[GRITtv]] | credits = [[Laura Flanders]] | network = [[Free Speech TV]] | location = [[New York City]] | airdate = 23 December 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140806074912/http://blip.tv/grittv/grittv-urvashi-vaid-we-need-progressive-multi-issue-movements-4569390 | archive-date = 6 August 2014 }}
*{{Worldcat id|lccn-n95-40569}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaid, Urvashi}}
[[Category:1958 births]]
[[Category:American women writers of Indian descent]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Lesbian writers]]
[[Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Northeastern University School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:People from New Delhi]]
[[Category:Vassar College alumni]]
[[Category:LGBT writers from the United States]]
[[Category:LGBT American people of Asian descent]]
[[Category:Stonewall Book Award winners]]

Urvashi Vaid - Revision history

imported>SdkbBot: /* Awards */General fixes, removed erroneous space