NGLTF Press Release For Immediate Release Contact: Urvashi Vaid Robert Bray - 202/332-6483 Ron.DeVrou@f70.n109.z1.fidonet.org NGLTF DIRECTOR URVASHI VAID TO LEAVE AT END OF 1992 Washington, D.C., May 14, 1992...After nearly eight years of involvement at the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) and the NGLTF Policy Institute, Executive Director Urvashi Vaid announced she will leave the staff in December 1992. Vaid will take a sabbatical in 1993, during which she plans to study, travel to India, write and live in Boston and Provincetown, Mass. Vaid will continue to be involved in the gay and lesbian movement as a strategist and political leader. Vaid made her announcement at the spring meeting of the NGLTF and NGLTF Policy Institute Boards in St. Louis, May 9-10. "This is a perfect time for me to move on, personally and organizationally," said Vaid. "NGLTF is in strong shape -- with unique and effective projects, a terrific staff, a visionary Board, and dedicated members and volunteers. I am excited at the prospect of tending to parts of my life I have not had time for, and I feel great confidence for the future of the Force I helped build." Vaid is widely credited for strengthening the gay and lesbian movement and elevating NGLTF to a new level of effectiveness and political power. "Urvashi Vaid has been central to NGLTF's growing strength," said L.A.-based NGLTF Board Co-Chair Curtis Shepard. "Her personal integrity and political vision are without parallel in our movement. She has increased our national visibility, professionalized administrative and internal operations, increased the budget and membership and stabilized fundraising." NGLTF's operating budget at the end of calendar 1989, when Vaid was hired as executive director, was $865,836. NGLTF's operating budget for fiscal 1992 is $1.3 million, a growth of 66 percent. In 1989, NGLTF had nine full-time staff members. Today, the organization has 14 full-time and two part-time staff. Vaid first joined NGLTF in spring of 1985 as a member of the Board of Directors. At the time, NGLTF was based in New York City and had a one-person office in Washington, D.C. In 1986, NGLTF consolidated operations in the nation's capital, and Vaid joined a five-person staff in September as the Public Information Director. Vaid was named NGLTF executive director in June of 1989, succeeding Jeffrey Levi. In 1990, Vaid helped redefine NGLTF's legislative and educational work, separating the two efforts into two organizations -- NGLTF and the NGLTF Policy Institute. Today, NGLTF is a national member-supported lobby representing some 17,000 members and the gay and lesbian community at large. The NGLTF Policy Institute is a national organizing and education center that houses the Anti-Violence Project, Families Project,Privacy/Civil Rights Project, Campus Project, Public Information office and the Creating Change conference. Known for her charismatic and energized style of activism, Vaid transformed NGLTF from an inside-the-beltway lobby to an activist force with tremendous grassroots support. Under Vaid, NGLTF emerged as the preeminent progressive organization in the gay and lesbian movement, forging a unique politics of inclusion and activism. NGLTF engaged in both direct action and lobbying. It made an explicit commitment to organize and build a grassroots gay and lesbian movement. It embraced a broad political agenda that articulated an integral connection between gay and lesbian liberation and sexism, racism, and other forms of oppression. A dynamic speaker and galvanizing leader, Vaid has travelled extensively, inspiring students and community-based gay and lesbian groups, as well as educating non-gay allies. In her sixth month as executive director, she was arrested at a national civil disobedience action at the White House calling for presidential leadership on AIDS (12/89). In her tenth month as executive director, she made international headlines when she challenged President George Bush at his first (and only) AIDS-policy address (3/90). Vaid has organized and participated in non-violent civil disobedience, working most recently with a multi-racial coalition of groups in D.C. protesting the Rodney King verdict (4/92). She has testified on Capitol Hill numerous times, including against Supreme Court justice David Souter and for increased AIDS funding. Last year, Vaid addressed the Amnesty International U.S.A. conference and championed gay and lesbian issues in the international arena. Earlier this year, Vaid facilitated a ground-breaking meeting between NGLTF and Robert Mosbacher, Bush-Quayle '92 Campaign chief. As Public Information Director from 1986-1989, Vaid expanded NGLTF's role as a resource for news media and grassroots activists. She developed original strategies for using media advocacy to advance public policy objectives. She organized the gay community's presence at numerous events, including the first Congressional hearings on Anti-Gay/Lesbian Violence (9/86); the CDC Mandatory Testing Conference in Atlanta (2/87); the Supreme Court civil disobedience action (10/87); the Republican and Democratic conventions (6-8/88); and the ACT NOW action at the FDA (10/88). "Urvashi has given NGLTF and the movement 1000 percent," said Susan Allee, New York City-based Board Co-Chair. "I know I speak for everyone involved with us when I say we are truly going to miss her next year. She has brought NGLTF unprecedented visibility, political credibility and financial stability." The NGLTF Board has formed a search committee, chaired by Susan Allee, and will complete its hiring process by November 1992. 1734 Fourteenth Street, NW-Washington, DC 20009-4309-(202) 332-6483 Ron.DeVrou@f70.n109.z1.fidonet.org ###