LGBTQ civil rights activist Urvashi Vaid died last weekend at age 63 after a tough fight with cancer at her home in New York City. Vaid and her wife, the comedian Kate Clinton, had split their time between their homes in NYC and Provincetown. Vaid and Clinton had been together for 33 years.
Expressed the Boston-based GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) in a press release:
GLAD joins with our entire community in mourning the loss of Urvashi Vaid, a beloved member of the GLAD family and a visionary, kind, and fearless activist. We send all our love to her partner, Kate Clinton, to their family, and to the many, many people across the globe whose lives she touched.
Throughout her four decades as a leader, community organizer, writer, and civil rights attorney, Urvashi embodied an absolute commitment to the recognition and enhancement of the dignity of every person.
She has left a lasting legacy on every part of our LGBTQ movement and on nearly every LGBTQ organization in the U.S. and beyond, including GLAD. In her early organizing as a part of Boston’s LGBTQ community in the 1980s, Urvashi worked at Gay Community News, co-founded the Boston Lesbian & Gay Political Alliance and served as one of GLAD’s first staffers while a law student at Northeastern University School of Law.
As GLAD’s long-time legal director Gary Buseck said in presenting her with the 2014 Spirit of Justice Award: “Urvashi reminds us that our work is never done; that there are laurels, but not to be rested on; and that we need only to open our eyes to see so many who remain in need of the liberation we profess to seek.”
In sorrow and gratitude, may Urvashi’s legacy inspire us to continue seeking liberation for all.
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