Victoria Neilson

Victoria Neilson is the Legal Director of Immigration Equality, a national organization that advocates for full equality under U.S. immigration law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and HIV-positive immigrants.  Ms. Neilson runs Immigration Equality's pro bono asylum project and provides technical assistance and mentoring on LGBT and HIV immigration issues to attorneys around the country. She is the primary author of The LGBT/HIV Asylum Manual, a comprehensive guide for attorneys, and she has published extensively on legal issues facing LGBT and HIV-positive immigrants and refugees. Ms. Neilson received her law degree from the City University School of Law and her bachelor's degree from Harvard University. Ms. Neilson is an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and was a 2009 recipient of the LGBT Law Association of Greater New York (Le-Gal) Community Vision award. Ms. Neilson is the former Litigation Director at the HIV Law Project in New York and a former tenant organizer. She currently teaches the LGBT Rights Clinic at New York University Law School as an adjunct professor.