As a radical activist for civil rights, feminism, and an end to the Vietnam War, Vicki Gabriner risked her life to transform the country at a time of tremendous upheaval. Gabriner became involved with civil rights and the anti-war movement as a student at Cornell. She spent three summers in Tennessee living with the black community, teaching at Freedom Schools, and working on issues of integration and voter registration, risking violent reprisals from white Southerners. In the late sixties, she joined the radical student activist group the Weathermen (an association about which she had very ambivalent feelings), traveled to Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade, and became a feminist. Gabriner moved to Atlanta in 1970, where she came out as a lesbian and helped to found the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance. In 1973, Gabriner was arrested for her participation in a Weathermen action several years earlier. While she was convicted at trial, she won her appeal in 1978.

Vicki Gabriner was honored at the 2002 Women Who Dared event in Boston.