Mitch Conroy

My main areas of interest within the Human Rights Practice field include LGBTQ+ rights, human rights at the US-Mexico border, religion and human rights, and human rights violations during conflict. My passion for LGBTQ+ rights started from my own personal experiences, and has only grown given the current treatment of transgender people within the United States and globally.

I moved to Tucson three years ago, and became quickly aware of how people are mistreated at the border. During my time in the program so far, I have also found many new areas of interest that I have also enjoyed studying, including disability rights, worker’s rights, and the treatment of people during times of conflict. There have been so many instances in history and today of civilians being mistreated during war, which leads to stories of trauma, disappearances, and death. By analyzing this history, I hope that these events can be avoided in the future.

I decided to start the Human Rights Practice Master’s program after being introduced to the program during my undergraduate studies at the University of Arizona. As an undergraduate, I took the course on "The Human Rights of LGBT+ Persons," which aligned greatly with the things I am passionate about in my own life. As a queer and nonbinary person, these issues deeply impact my personal life, which is why I was originally interested in joining the program.

After reading up on the program, I decided to apply because I knew it would be a perfect fit for learning about the change that is necessary in the world. I have always been very passionate about human rights, but I did not always know how I could help and participate in the active defense of human rights, which is why this program was so fitting for me.