[2] She is the author of Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation (1995) and Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics (2012).

[5][6] She was politically active at a young age, writing letters to Richard Nixon in support of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, participating in anti-Vietnam War marches, and giving speeches during George McGovern's presidential campaign.

[7][8] Vaid graduated from Potsdam High School in three years, in 1975, and attended Vassar College, where she studied English literature and political science.

[10] Vaid was the founder of LPAC, the first lesbian Super PAC, which was launched in July 2012 and as of 2020[update] has invested millions of dollars in candidates who are committed to legislation promoting social justice.

[12] She was founder of The Vaid Group, a social innovation consultancy that advises individuals and organization working to advance equity, justice and inclusion globally and domestically.

[10][12] At the time of her death, Vaid was president of the Vaid Group LLC,[13] which worked with social justice innovators, movements, and organizations to address structural inequalities based on sexual orientation, gender identity, race, gender, and economic status.

[14] Vaid believed that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality will occur only when the larger institutions of society and the family are transformed to be more inclusive of racial, gender, and economic difference.

[21][22] Vaid told Curve magazine that her biggest fear was that LGBT communities would get preoccupied by the wins in the fight for marriage equality and slow down their movement.

"[2] In an article written in 2014 for the Journal of Lesbian Studies,[25] Vaid called for a greater activist response for and by people with breast cancer.

"There’s a clear need for an ACT UP type direct action movement organized around diagnosis, treatment, and care for breast cancer," she wrote.

"But they are not organized to mobilize the anger and energy of breast cancer survivors and our families to pressure and demand an improvement in diagnosis technologies, in drug development, in standards of care and treatment, in health insurance coverage, for example."

[26] In 1998, Vaid met political comedian Kate Clinton at a war conference of gay rights activists in Warrenton, Virginia, and the couple married in 2013.

[25] Vaid was the aunt of Alok Vaid-Menon, a gender non-conforming writer, performance artist, and media personality.