100 Women We Love: Yetta Kurland

We are thrilled to present the 2013 list of 100 Women We Love – Including…

Yetta Kurland is a New Yorker to the bone. She was born and raised in New York, graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Buffalo, received her law degree from Brooklyn Law School, taught at NYU, hosts a radio show on WWRL 1600 AM New York, owns one of New York’s premier civil rights law firms The Kurland Group, and is a founding board member of Marriage Equality New York PAC. Among her varied accomplishments, Kurland won a decision to allow same-sex domestic partners in New York to change their last names. She also fought the New York City Fire Department on behalf of female EMS workers. It's classic Kurland to be on the front lines of the fight for LGBTQ equality for over a quarter century now, yet she still finds time to do work for other under-represented groups—from people of color and low-income communities, to small neighborhoods and protest groups. In 2013, the Chelsea resident announced she is running for mayoral candidate (and out lesbian) Christine Quinn's seat on the New York City Council and recently was endorsed by former Mayor David Dinkins. Looks like another optimistic Election Day for queers this fall. –DN


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