Faculty Profile: Hedy Weinberg

Hedy Weinberg joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee as their Executive Director in 1984. An affiliate of the National ACLU, ACLU-TN’s mission is to protect and promote the guarantees of the Bill of Rights and the Tennessee Constitution. Hedy is particularly proud of ACLU-TN’s  campaigns to advance LGBT equality, combat racial and ethnic profiling, protect and promote religious freedom and reproductive justice, and reform the criminal justice system. 

 

Hedy is a founding member and steering committee member of “Nashville For All of Us” which successfully organized the campaign to defeat the “English-Only” ballot initiative in Nashville, and of Healthy and Free Tennessee, a statewide coalition focusing on promoting reproductive and sexual health. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and on the Steering Committees of the American Constitution Society –Nashville Chapter and Our Muslim Neighbors. 

 

Hedy also serves as the ACLU-TN lobbyist and ACLU-TN led a successful campaign to establish, for the first time in Tennessee, “sexual orientation” as a protected class in a state law.  ACLU-TN has achieved significant victories, including defending the rights of lesbian and gay parents whose custody and  visitation was threatened, representing LGBT high school students whose free speech rights were violated, and challenged viewpoint discrimination by school systems who were blocking LGBT informational and political websites.

 

Hedy grew up on the south side of Chicago and received her BA in history and psychology from Grinnell College and her MA from the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago.

 

Hedy has been recognized for her advocacy work and is the recipient of the Human Relations Award from the National Conference on Community and Justice – Nashville Chapter; the Tennessee Library Association’s Freedom of Information Award; and the Human Rights Campaign Equality Award. In 2012, Hedy was inducted into the Academy for Women of Achievement by the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee and this year (2016) she received the Bridge Builders – LifeTime Achievement Award from the American Muslim Advisory Council.