Most of us who are part of the LGBTQ+ community in Provincetown probably shared the same passions as local rights activist, and lawyer, Urvashi Vaid, but unlike her, none of us ever did much about it. Our lives here however are all unwittingly so richly improved because of her unceasing energies in her fights for our rights and in actively seeking more acceptance and tolerance,
Vaid sadly passed away in 2022 from cancer ….one of the very few battles she lost. Now Ptown filmmakers Mike Syers and Fermin Rojas have made a short movie THERE ARE THINGS TO DO which not only celebrates her life but also makes us very aware of how much she actually achieved to benefit our community.
An American/Indian, Vaid was just eight years old when she moved from New Delhi to New York after her father, writer Krishna Baldev Vaid, took up a university teaching position. At age 11, she did her first political protest when she participated in the anti-Vietnam war movement. It was the first of very many and she swiftly moved on to become the instigator of a string of different protests. A natural organizer that at aged 25 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.
The documentary simply doesn’t have the time to list the many steps of her highly successful career such as being Executive Director of the Arcus Foundation, serving on the board of the Gill Foundation , founding LPAC, the first lesbian Super PAC, and working in various capacities at the National LGBTQ Task Force (NGLTF), eventually serving as its executive director. Equally mind-blowing are the 13 very prestigious Awards that she was deservedly honored with.
What does particularly shine through from the very first frame, is Vaid’s extraordinary sheer unselfishness …… and her joyous relationship with her wife and partner Kate Clinton.
Our debt to her is immense and probably unrepayable, but I do think we owe her, in the very least, stepping up our own efforts to help make this community a better place for all of us. I cannot see myself disrupting Press Conference in the White House (!) but I think Vaid’s legacy is that we all need to stand up and be counted from now on.
The word icon is greatly overused in the LGBTQ+ community ……. and I believe Urvashi Vaid would hate being called one ….. but she is undoubtedly one.
This is a must-see film for anyone who loves PTown and Urvashi Vaid and I so hope it finds the audience it so deserves
The documentary will be screening at Provincetown Film Festival
