LGBTQ Activist, Author, Leader Urvashi Vaid Dies at 63

Known for her extensive career as an advocate for LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, anti-war efforts, immigration justice, and a number of other social issues, Urvashi Vaid died in her New York City home on Friday, May 13, according to a release from the National LGBTQ Task Force. She was 63.

Vaid served as the the executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force from 1989 to 1992, holding a prior role as media director.

Kierra Johnson, current executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, expresses the organization’s devastation over Vaid’s death, calling her “one of the most influential progressive activists of our time.”

“Urvashi Vaid was a leader, a warrior and a force to be reckoned with,” Johnson says. “She was also a beloved colleague, friend, partner and someone we all looked up to—a brilliant, outspoken and deeply committed activist who wanted full justice and equality for all people.”

Johnson says Vaid’s leadership, vision, and writing helped to shape the Task Force’s values and work, alongside the entire queer movement and larger progressive movement.

Vaid famously made a statement at George H.W. Bush’s 1990 address on AIDS with her sign reading, “Talk Is Cheap, AIDS Funding Is Not.” The critique made waves, disrupted the conference, and opened up conversations on the Bush administration’s failure to confront the epidemic and its impact on LGBTQ folks.

After more than a decade at the National LGBTQ Task Force, Vaid published her first book, Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation, where she criticized the idea of “mainstreaming” the LGBTQ civil rights movement. She said the objective of the movement must be fundamental, actionable change, rather than simply tolerance.

Vaid also launched LPAC in 2012, the first lesbian Super PAC, which has since invested millions of dollars in candidates who are committed to social justice through legislation. Vaid also held positions on the boards at the Ford Foundation, The Arcus Foundation, and the Gill Foundation. She was also a leader in developing the current, ongoing National LGBTQ women’s community survey.

“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,” Vaid said at the March on Washington in April 1993. “The gay rights movement is an integral part of the American promise of freedom.”

Vaid was the aunt of activist and performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon. They survive her, along with her longtime partner, political humorist Kate Clinton.

Photo courtesy of Urvashi Vaid on Facebook