Preston Mitchum

Preston is an unapologetically Black queer advocate who brings a breadth of legal and policy experience to his role as senior legal and international policy analyst at Advocates for Youth. At Advocates, he supports both policy and international youth health and rights divisions on the global sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in U.S. foreign policy portfolio. In addition to his work at Advocates, he is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center teaching LGBT Health Law & Policy.

Prior to joining Advocates, Preston served as the senior policy analyst at the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), where he provided in-depth analysis of new data, policies, and programs across SRHR—including HIV and AIDS, maternal health, family planning, and gender-based violence.  In addition, he was a judicial law clerk at the D.C. Superior Court to the Honorable S. Pamela Gray and the Honorable Errol R. Arthur, and was a Policy Analyst at the Center for American Progress (CAP). Preston currently serves as chair of the Washington Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, is an active member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and is an accomplished author publishing both scholarly work and social commentary for many online outlets including The Atlantic, Think Progress, The Root, Slate.com, theGrio, Huffington Post, and others. He has also appeared on Al Jazeera, MSNBC, and Fox News.

Preston received his Bachelor of Arts, with honors, from Kent State University; his J.D., with honors, from North Carolina Central University School of Law; and his LL.M. in Law and Government from American University Washington College of Law where he specialized in Gender and Law and received the Student Leader of the Year award.