2017 Top 40 Under 40: Afton Bradley, 28

Transgender Health Care Services Manager, the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood

Those in the LGBT community are already familiar with the impacts Afton Bradley has made, but the work he’s doing with the Virginia League of Planned Parenthood, local legal groups and clinics across the state really help this 28-year-old Charlottesville native stand out. He spent much of his early years advocating for trans people like himself and eventually turned that passion for supporting some of the neediest people into a career. His three years as the Transgender Services Program Manager at Health Brigade, formerly the Fan Free Clinic, helped build the skills he needed to open the Virginia league’s first Transgender Health Care Program in late 2016. He’s also worked with the Virginia Equality Bar on its transgender legal clinics, which help with name and gender marker changes on state-issued documents.

The Virginia Commonwealth University social work graduate continues to develop these programs, promote advocacy for transgender people across the state, ensures compliance with health codes, handling intake interviews with new clinic patients, all while returning to school to earn a new degree as a registered nurse.

“I view my life much the same as my favorite activity, hiking,” Bradley says. “Every trail is different, and some have been marked and written on maps.  I will do my best in my professional and personal life to make sure if someone is ready for the path, it is ready for them.”

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