Women's History Month Heroes: Urvashi Vaid
GLSEN is proud to honor Women's History Month by celebrating contributions of women to the LGBT and safe schools movements. Throughout March we will be recognizing heroes who have made significant contributions to the LGBT and safe schools movements. Click here for more information, and keep reading all month long for new additions!
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Urvashi Vaid (b. 1958) is an activist who has worked for over 25 years promoting civil rights for the LGBT community. 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. Vaid became Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 1989, and quickly built the NGLTF into the nation's pre-eminent gay rights organization. The NGLTF organizes the largest annual LGBT conference in the country, Creating Change, which focuses on organizing and skills building. Urvashi also worked for 5 years at the Ford Foundation, and has been been the Executive Director of the Arcus Foundation since late 2005. In April 2009 she was named one of Out magazine's 50 most influential men and women in America. Vaid shares homes in Manhattan and Provincetown, Massachusetts, with her partner, comedian Kate Clinton.
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We want to know who your heroes are! If you know a woman who has contributed to the LGBT and safe schools movement, post about them on the Gay-Straight Alliances Facebook page. You can also tweet your heroes to @DayofSilence using the #GLSENWHM hash tag!