An Everyday Riot is an intimate documentary portrait of the late Urvashi Vaid, a fierce, proud, charismatic lesbian activist The film explores her quest for social justice and LGBTQ equality, her decades-long partnership with comedian Kate Clinton, her family and chosen family, and her experiences as a queer immigrant of color. The project features intimate interviews with Clinton, friends and family, ex-lovers, and her nonbinary “nibling,” performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon. The film is in production, and continues to raise money, develop visually, plan for engagement, and learn about the people in her world.

Produced and Directed by
NANCY KATES 

Executive Producer
RACHEL MADDOW

Consulting Producer
DAWN VALADEZ

Born in New Delhi, Vaid arrived in the United States at the age of eight. She grew up in Pottsdam, NY, then left for Vassar at 16, where she began to realize she was a lesbian. After moving to Boston for law school in the early 1980s, she became an LGBTQ+ activist. Vaid joined the staff of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force after law school, and became its executive director at the age of 31, at the height of the AIDS crisis. She galvanized the gay community with a fiery keynote address at the 1993 March on Washington, which put her on the cover of many magazines. Her book, Virtual Equality: the Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation, came out in 1995, galvanizing the movement. She went on to leadership positions at the Arcus Foundation and the Ford Foundation, and served on several key nonprofit boards, including the Planned Parenthood Action Committee. Vaid died of breast cancer in 2022, at 63, and is greatly missed.

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