Date: Wed, 26 May 99 19:01:27 -0500 From: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Subject: [NGLTF PRESS] Vaid Awarded Honorary Degree *********************************************** NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE PRESS RELEASE Contact: Betsy Gressler, Deputy Political Director 202-332-6483 ext. 3306 800-757-6476 pager bgressler@ngltf.org 1700 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC 20009 www.ngltf.org *********************************************** VAID AWARDED HONORARY LAW DEGREE New York, New York --May 25, 1999 -- City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law at Queens College awarded lesbian attorney and activist, Urvashi Vaid an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree on May 23, 1999. "The award to Urvashi Vaid is in recognition of her creative and dedicated use of the law to achieve equality and justice," said Kristin Booth Glen, Dean and Professor of Law at the CUNY School of Law. The school was founded in 1983, the same year that Vaid received her first Law Degree from Northeastern University School of Law. "Her tenure as an attorney and community organizer exemplifies the spirit of CUNY School of Law, to use law in the service of human needs," said Glen. Honorary Law Degrees were also conferred on Linda Chavez-Thompson, the Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO and the Honorable Sheila Sisulu, Ambassador from South Africa to the United States at the commencement ceremony on Sunday. In her remarks, Vaid urged the 128 graduates to reshape the nation with their imagination and idealism, "The poet Audre Lorde wrote, 'I know the boundaries of my nation lie within myself.'" Vaid encouraged them use their degrees to achieve gender, racial, economic and sexual equality. Urvashi Vaid currently is the Director of the Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), a community- based think tank. Under her tenure the Policy Institute has expanded its programs to provide foundational research and policy analysis on the GLB electorate, economics, public opinion, and right wing attacks on democracy and has launched strategic projects necessary for the advancement of the GLBT movement. Vaid is the author of "Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation," which won the American Library Association's Gay and Lesbian Book Award in 1996. She lectures widely on civil rights and public policy issues, and is a columnist for the national gay publication, "The Advocate." Among other honors, Vaid was selected by A. Magazine in 1999 as one of the 25 most influential Asian Pacific Americans in the U.S. In the Fall of 1998, the Billie Jean King Foundation announced a multi-year grant to NGLTF to create the Vaid Fellowship Program to support internships at the Policy Institute for people of color and other emerging leaders. She received a Rockefeller Residential Fellowship from the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at CUNY for the 1997-1998 academic year and was awarded with the Lambda Legal Defense Fund Liberty Award in 1996. In 1994, Vaid was selected by "Time" magazine as one of the 50 most influential leaders under 40. -30- _____________________________________________________________________ Founded in 1973, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force works to eliminate prejudice, violence and injustice against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people at the local, state and national level. As part of a broader social justice movement for freedom, justice and equality, NGLTF is creating a world that respects and celebrates the diversity of human expression and identity where all people may fully participate in society. _________________________________________ This message was issued by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Media Department. If you have a question regarding this post, please direct it to the contact at the top of this message. If you wish to UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, please send an email with "UNSUBSCRIBE PRESSLIST" in the subject and body of your email message to . You may also unsubscribe by visiting http://www.ngltf.org.