April 11, 2023
Interview with Preston Mitchum
Preston D. Mitchum is an unapologetically Black and queer civil rights advocate, public speaker, writer, and professor hailing from Ohio and residing in the nation’s capital.
Preston is the Founder & Principal of PDM Consulting, a multi-purpose consulting firm focused on the power of Black people, LGBTQ+ people, and young people. Most recently, Preston served as the Director of Federal Advocacy and Government Affairs at The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and mental health organization for LGBTQ young people, and as an Adjunct Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law.
Preston was the first openly LGBTQ Chair of the Washington Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and, in 2021, was voted D.C.’s Most Committed Activist by Washington Blade readers and runner-up in 2022. He has been featured in Washington Post, BET.com, The Root, The Atlantic, Buzzfeed, CNN, and others. He was named a 2021 Rockwood Fellow for Leaders in Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice and was named one of the 2020 Best LGBTQ Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association.
Preston holds an LLM in Law and Government from American University Washington College of Law, a Juris Doctorate from North Carolina Central University School of Law, and a BA in Political Science from
Kent State University.
Interview with Ria Tabacco Mar joined by WNE Law Professor Jennifer Levi in a Q & A style event.
Ria Tabacco Mar is the Director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, where she oversees the ACLU’s women’s rights litigation.
Previously, she was a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Project, where she fought gender stereotypes, sex segregation, and attempts to use religion to discriminate in schools, at work, and in public places. Ria was part of the ACLU’s litigation team representing Aimee Stephens and Don Zarda, whose cases were decided as part of the recent Supreme Court ruling recognizing that federal employment law protections apply to LGBTQ people.
Ria is a frequent commentator on gender justice issues, appearing on television programs including All In with Chris Hayes, PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton, and PBS’s Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, and has authored opinion pieces for the New York Times, Washington Post, and other outlets.
Ria has been recognized on The Root 100, an annual list of the most influential African Americans ages 25 to 45, and as one of the Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association.
Ria graduated from New York University School of Law and Harvard College.
Interview with Evan Wolfson joined by WNE School of Law Professor Jennifer Levi in Q & A style event:
Wolfson was the founder of Freedom to Marry, the successful campaign for marriage equality in the United States, and is widely considered the architect of the movement that led to nationwide victory in 2015. During the 1990's he served as co-counsel in the historic Hawaii marriage case that launched the ongoing global movement for the freedom to marry, and has participated in numerous gay rights and HIV/AIDS cases. In 2012, Wolfson received the Barnard Medal of Distinction alongside President Barack Obama. Wolfson earned a B.A. in history from Yale College and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Wolfson now devotes his time to advising and assisting diverse movements and causes in the U.S. and around the world. Based in New York City, Wolfson has been named a Distinguished Visitor from Practice at Georgetown Law Center, where he teaches law and social change; a Distinguished Practitioner in Grand Strategy at Yale University; and Senior Counsel at Dentons, the world's largest law firm.
