The Dream of a Common Movement: Selected Writings of Urvashi Vaid

The Dream of a Common Movement collects essays, interviews, and speeches by the late feminist and civil rights activist Urvashi Vaid, whose pioneering writing and organizing over the course of four decades fundamentally shaped the LGBTQ+ movement. Vaid explores the LGBTQ+ movement’s impact on the AIDS epidemic and its challenges as it developed a national presence. She calls out movement leaders and donors for not addressing gender, race, and class issues and passionately argues that the goal of any liberation movement should be transformation, not assimilation. In personal essays, Vaid describes a double consciousness forged by the experience of immigration and a complicated relationship with her Indian-American and lesbian identities. Whether she was focused on the Donors of Color Network, the 22nd Century Initiative, the Lesbian Political Action Committee, or other initiatives she launched, Vaid was steadfast in her vision of a more just society and believed deeply in the power of people coming together to effect change. Offering a window into the breadth of her progressive vision for social change, this volume inspires readers to never stop organizing and marching.

Urvashi Vaid (1958-2022) was an LGBTQ+ rights activist, lawyer, writer, and the author of Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation.

Jyotsna Vaid is Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Women’s and Gender Studies at Texas A&M University.

Amy Hoffman is a writer, editor, activist, and the author of five books.

Tony Kushner is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, playwright, and screenwriter.