Carmen Vázquez, the founding director of the Women s Building in San Francisco and a longtime activist for the LGBTQ community and social justice, died January 27 in New York City. She was 72.
The cause was complications of COVID-19, according to the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, where Ms. Vázquez had been a board co-chair.
According to a statement on the foundation s website, Ms. Vázquez, a butch lesbian, was the founding director of the Women s Building in San Francisco, helped found the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center in San Francisco, and the LGBT Health & Human Services Network, a coalition of over 55 organizations and groups in New York advocating for LGBTQ health and human services.
January 29, 2021 11:00 PMLegal
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BROOKLYN, N.Y. Carmen Vàsquez, who spent much of her adult life working to gain full rights for sexual minorities, died this past Wednesday, January 27, at her home of COVID-related illness. She was 72 years old.
The Puerto Rican-born Vàsquez, oldest of seven children, was raised in Harlem and attended City University of New York (CCNY), where she earned a Bachelor s degree in English and a Master s in Education before moving to San Francisco in 1974, where she co-founded The Women s Building, became the Executive Director of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and later became the Coordinator of Lesbian and Gay Health Services for the San Francisco Department of Public Health. After spending two decades in the City by the Bay, Vàsquez moved back to New York City in 1994 to continue her activism as Director of Public Policy for the LGBT Community Center (1994-2003), and as Deputy Director for Empire State Pride Agenda (200
Carmen Vázquez, the founding director of the Women s Building in San Francisco and a longtime activist for the LGBTQ community and social justice, died January 27 in New York City. She was 72.