The Western New England University School of Law's Center for Social will present an interview with Preston D. Mitchum on Tuesday, April 11, 2023 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. EST as part of the Center for Social Justice's Gervino-Ward LGBTQ+ Speaker Series which provides a venue for conversations about legal issues significant to the LGBTQ+ community. This free event will be held in the School of Law Room D and via Zoom and is open to the public. Pre-registration for this event is required at bit.ly/GervinoWardLGBTQ2023.
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.
The Gervino-Ward LGBTQ+ Speaker Series is made possible by a generous donation from WNE Law School alumna Elena Gervino L'88, her wife Kathleen Ward, and their two daughters. It provides a venue for conversations about legal issues important to the LGBTQ+ community by bringing prominent leaders, speakers, and advocates to engage with the Western New England University School of Law Community. The mission of this series is to draw awareness to emerging trends in LGBTQ+ law and continuing social justice concerns that might affect LGBTQ+ clients or practitioners. Lectures are open to students, alumni, the University community, and the general public.
