What is Charlottesville United for Trans Futures (CU4TF)?

We are a coalition of Charlottesville and UVA community members and organizations committed to the protection of rights for Trans*. Our member organizations are diverse in their backgrounds and experience, but unified in our belief that Trans* people are valued members of our community.

Our member organizations:

Have an organization interested in joining the coalition? Reach out to @uva_qsu on Instagram.

What does CU4TF want?

Building on the important work began by United Campus Workers of Virginia (UCW), we call on the Board of Visitors and the CEO of UVA Health, Wendy Horton, to do the following:

1. Affirm their commitment to the values outlined in the Hippocratic Oath and continue to provide gender-affirming health care for all individuals — regardless of age or any other marginalizing factor. 
2. Advocate on behalf of patients and providers of gender-affirming health care at the state and federal levels as they do for other issues of importance to UVA and UVA Health.
3. Invite Trans* people and perspectives into any conversation where the outcome directly impacts their ability to live happy and healthy lives.

To show your support for these demands, sign the petition here.

What is happening to gender-affirming care at UVA?

On January 28, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing the federal government to stop providing money to hospitals and medical institutions like UVA Health and UVA School of Medicine that provide health care for trans youth under 19.

On January 31, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares directed the UVA and VCU hospitals to stop providing such healthcare, well before hospitals in other states were forced to do so. As of February 19, several lawsuits challenging the executive order have allowed the UVA hospital to resume gender-affirming care for youth, but it remains under threat.

On February 21, the UVA Board of Visitors will make decisions about the future of this healthcare at UVA. Let’s let them know that we want them to do everything within their power to protect gender-affirming care for Trans* youth.

What is gender-affirming care?

“Gender-affirming care is a supportive form of healthcare. It consists of an array of services that may include medical, surgical, mental health, and non-medical services for transgender and nonbinary people.

For transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents, early gender affirming care is crucial to overall health and well-being as it allows the child or adolescent to focus on social transitions and can increase their confidence while navigating the healthcare system.”

Source: Department of Health and Human Services

There is no part of gender-affirming care that is required to be Trans*, but many people elect some form of treatment to feel more aligned in their gender identity. The array of medical services may include some combination of hormones, surgery, and mental health support, all of which is determined in consultation with medical professionals. Many more Trans* people also transition socially and legally, affirming their gender and experience by changing their appearance, name, pronouns, and more.

As mentioned above, gender-affirming care is particularly important for Trans* youth. According to one study, gender-affirming care for Trans* youth ages 13-20 led to 60% lower rates of moderate to sever depression and 73% lower rates of suicidal ideation after 12 months (Tordoff et al, 2022). Less than 0.01% of Trans* youth receive surgery as teenagers (Dai et al, 2024), and gender-affirming care more frequently involves largely reversible puberty blockers and possibly hormone replacement therapies.

Many fear that gender-affirming care will lead to regret later in life, but the data show otherwise. One meta-analysis involving over 7,000 participants found that less than 1% experienced regret after gender-affirming surgery (Bustos et al, 2021). Another study found that 2.1% of people with a history of transition decided to detransition for internal reasons (read: regret), while most who detransition do so because of external factors like financial resources or family and community support (Turban et al, 2021). By contrast, the regret rates for knee replacements are around 18% (Mahdi et al, 2020) and piercings– something many parents get for their children– among 18-29 year olds are 33% (Statista, 2017).

For all the empirical evidence in support of the safety and efficacy of gender-affirming care, there is nothing more important than listening to the perspectives and experiences of Trans* people themselves. To read more stories, click here.

Why Trans*?

The use of the term Trans* on our page is designed to reflect the fact that there is no one transgender experience. Transmasculine, transfeminine, non-binary, and more– Trans* people of all genders are important in our movement and deserve to be heard.