Connie Gilbert was committed to the fight for social justice and was active in every significant civil rights struggle in her lifetime: from resisting McCarthyism; to registering blacks to vote in the segregated South; to establishing reproductive choice and advocating equal rights for women; to the struggle for lesbian, gay and transgender equality. Connie had a sincere calling to leave the world a kinder and fairer place than she found it, and committed her life to being a voice for those who were silenced, a shield to those who were oppressed.