By James Romoser
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
RALEIGH, N.C. – Ashley Thrift is a prominent Winston-Salem lawyer and the chairman of the N.C. Partnership for Children, which runs Smart Start, a statewide early-education program.

But his gender became the most relevant part of his biography Tuesday, when his name appeared on a long list prepared by Hillary Clinton’s campaign of prominent women in North Carolina who are supporting Clinton. Dana Cope, the (male) executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, also appears on the list.

“Yes, I am a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton,” Thrift said, “and yes, I am a man.”

On the list, Thrift appears three spots below Maya Angelou, the poet and professor at Wake Forest University, and one spot above Emily Herring Wilson, a writer from Winston-Salem. Also on the list is Julianne Thrift, the former president of Salem College – and the wife of Ashley Thrift.

“In my generation, there were a few of us with the name of Ashley, but it seems like in the more recent generations, most of the Ashleys are girls or women,” Thrift said.