Out Front Program Focus of Talk

Michael Heflin will discuss Amnesty International’s OUT FRONT program on lesbian and gay rights worldwide on Monday, Feb. 8, at Wake Forest University.

The free and public lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Scales Fine Arts Center, Room 102.

Heflin is the director of OUT FRONT, an Amnesty International program focused on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights (LGBT).

As the former deputy director of Amnesty International’s mid-west regional office, Heflin focused on recruiting and training volunteers, the connection between civil/political rights and economic rights, the development of lesbian and gay human rights and the abolition of the death penalty. He also worked with community groups concerned with LGBT rights and organized Amnesty International’s participation in public events with LGBT rights groups.

Heflin has worked extensively on human rights both within and outside Amnesty International. His efforts have included helping create the Illinois Federation for Human Rights, an organization trying to amend the state’s human rights ordinance so it prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Before joining Amnesty International, Heflin worked as a union representative for a council of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. While attending law school at the University of Cincinnati, Heflin was a fellow with the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights and his work focused on international human rights law.

Heflin is visiting Wake Forest as part of the Year of Globalization and Diversity, the university’s yearlong look at the world’s development into a more global community.

The event is sponsored by the Year of Globalization and Diversity, the university’s Amnesty International chapter, the Women’s Studies program and the Gay/Straight Student Alliance.

For more information on this event or other Year of Globalization and Diversity activities call 336-758-5788.

Categories: Events, Humanities, Speakers