Felice Yeskel

Felice Yeskel (April 6, 1953 – January 11, 2011) was an American activist who advocated for LGBT rights, class issues, and economic equality. Yeskel founded and ran, for 14 years, the Stonewall Center at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Yeskel also co-founded United for a Fair Economy and Class Action.

Early life Felice Yeskel was born on April 6, 1953, and raised in Manhattan, the only child of Harry and Phyllis Yeskel. Yeskel's father drove a truck to collect flour sacks from bakeries around New York City. Yeskel approached campus administration, armed with research undertaken or her dissertation, and convinced higher ups that the university did not adequately address the needs of its LGBTQ students. In 1995, the program was renamed The Stonewall Center: A Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Queer, and Transgender Educational Resource Center, and in 2004, "asexual" and "intersex" were added to the name.

Yeskel founded, with fellow activist Jenny Ladd, the organization Class Action.

Yeskel also served as a faculty member in the Social Justice Education Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Honors

Lifetime achievement award from the Working Class Studies Association MotherWoman's Pillar Award (in 2010)

The Consequence of Being Gay: A Report on the Quality of Life for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1985) Amherst, Ma.: University of Massachusetts Multicultural Organizational Development on Campus: Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns (1992) Pelham, Ma. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Campus Organizing: A Comprehensive Manual (1995) [with Curtis F. Shepard, Charles L. Outcalt, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity (2000) New York: W.W. Norton [with Chuck Collins and United for a Fair Economy] Class Lives: Stories from Across Our Economic Divide (2014) Ithaca: ILR Press, Cornell University Press [with Chuck Collins, Jennifer Ladd, Maynard Seider, Class Action]