“Masculinizing hormone therapy has made me start to feel at home in my body. As a disabled individual, I have always felt antagonized by my body and by the healthcare professionals who were supposed to help me feel better. I am always hopeful I can find healthcare professionals that actually care about my well-being, but do the research and work necessary to structure care in a way that benefits me. Age does not prevent one from taking these steps towards a healthcare plan. I have been responsible for managing my POTS from a young age after my mother advocated for my diagnosis at age 7 in 2008. The signs were obvious, and internally I felt that something was wrong. And yet, if a trans child had the self-awareness to identify their own gender dysphoria, doctors and other professionals under a Trump presidency want to ignore said child’s cry for help. The only reason I did not try to be heard as a child is because I believed that what I felt was a sin to be corrected through prayer and self-flagellation. It took a long time for me to step away from that mindset, let alone finally listen to that internal voice. Now on testosterone, my voice is starting to sound like that internal voice. A weight has left my shoulders and I feel truly alive. I got a taste of that feeling after starting antidepressants, but have felt sustained improvement after starting HRT. Don’t take this away from others!”

– Trans* UVA Health patient and student

TW: “I walked into the UVA Teen and Young Adult Health Clinic for my first gender affirming care appointment at the age of 19 years and 30 days– a month past the executive order’s age minimum. At that point, I had known for 11 years that I was not a man, and that my body and mind were meant to look like my female friends. At that moment, I had known for 6 years that I wanted to medically transition and waited for the moment that going to college would give me the freedom to do so. Walking into that clinic, I sincerely believed that I would not make it another 19 years and 30 days– nor did I want to in a man’s body. But in that appointment, UVA’s incredible doctors and nurses made me feel as no one else had: I was going to be ok. In the months and years since that visit, my world has gone from grayscale to technicolor. I have experienced the joy of authenticity and self-expression, the strength of support from friends and family, and the peace of at last feeling at home in my body. I now look forward to a long and happy life ahead of me, one that I did not previously think would exist. I know without a doubt that the gender affirming healthcare I received at UVA Health saved my life.”

– Trans* UVA student and UVA Health patient

TW: “Gender-affirming care has quite literally saved the lives of many close friends. The fact of the matter is that young people who receive necessary care upon request to help their physical body align with their identified gender commit suicide and have other mental health issues at rates far lower than their peers who do not receive this care.”

– UVA student and Trans* ally

“I’ve spent a large majority of my life feeling uncomfortable with my body. Even before I knew I was trans I spent every day feeling like I was different than everyone else. Like I was the only one who spent every day feeling like my clothes didn’t fit me right, my skin didn’t fit me right, my name didn’t fit me right. I have been on testosterone for just over a year now and I got top surgery in December of 2024, and I can’t emphasize enough how good it feels to be able to just exist and not be constantly aware of and uncomfortable with my body. Gender affirming care is not a magic cure all, I still deal with gender dysphoria, but for the first time in my life I can go about my day without the ever present thought in my head that everything feels wrong. Gender affirming care has done nothing except make my life so much better and more enjoyable, and its unfathomable to me that my ability to go about my day without being tormented a sense of discomfort could be used as a political tool. I am not indoctrinated, I am not deluded, I am a real person and one of many who would be gravely affected by any decision to limit access to gender affirming care. To those who have the ability to make these kinds of decisions I would remind you that this is more than a political or idealogical debate. There are real people who depend on you to uphold their rights. Please don’t take this lightly, please understand that we are informed and making these decisions with due consideration. Please don’t take away the comfort we have fought and suffered to attain.”

– Trans* UVA student

“Gender-affirming care saves lives. As a cis person in the queer community, it is our job to be fierce allies and to advocate for trans, non binary, and otherwise gender non-conforming people, because they are an integral part of the culture. Trans joy is beautiful, it is powerful, and it is here to stay, because no government agency will cause our community to abandon them. UVA, the queer community, and the world at large is made richer by trans people, so we need to protect their, and everyone else’s, access to gender affirming care.”

– Family/ally of Trans* person and UVA student

“Gender affirming care has allowed our child to live as their true self for the last three years. They can feel at home in their body and continue to succeed in school and have good mental health. We are proud of them and will continue to advocate for gender affirming care for all youth who deserve these basic human rights!”

– Parent of Trans* child

“It was through UVA health that I received all my testosterone for gender affirming care. I also got letters to get top surgery. Both of these steps took place when I was under 18. It was an important time in my life and it allowed me to feel comfortable running cross-country and track for my high school and going on a month long backpacking trip where it was my choice to share whether or not I was trans. It opened up my life in such profound ways it’s hard to imagine existing without it. The feeling of alignment and also being able to be somewhat in sync with the other guys in my high school going through puberty was euphoric. UVA health and endocrinology always made a home for me and kept me safe with consistent bloodwork and any necessary dose adjustments. I also got a hysterectomy with UVA health as an adult. Gender affirming care saves lives. It means trans people can shine and grow beyond their dysphoria. We have so much to offer and so much love to give in this world and shouldn’t have to be concerned with whether or not we can access the care we need.“

– Trans* UVA student and UVA Health patient

“Gender-affirming care saves lives — it also creates lives. My life didn’t start until I transitioned. It was as if I had been living in black and white, and then someone turned on the colors. I was able to love in a way I had never loved before; I was able to see myself in the mirror for the first time; I was able to feel and process my emotions in a way that hadn’t been possible before. And I realized that these were all aspects of life other people just … took for granted. To transition is to become oneself. It is apotheosis. We mustn’t give up on our truth and our happiness.”

– Trans* UVA Health patient and Charlottesville resident

TW: “My first appointment for HRT was at the UVA Crozet clinic. When I made the appointment I broke down in tears over the phone, out of relief and grief for the 25 years I spent knowing I wasn’t a woman but trying desperately to be one anyway. I didn’t think there was anything I could do about it. Four years later I’m happier in my body than I have ever been. The first year was excruciating, waiting for the HRT to do its thing. Puberty takes a while. Unfortunately, I had to do it twice. Thanks to UVA’s trans healthcare team I was able to get started when I did, and have spent the last 3 years feeling more relieved and more myself than I ever did in the prior 30. 30 years of feeling like my body was wrong, like there was something gravely wrong with me because I felt like I didn’t belong in it.

The depression. The anxiety. I didn’t know what being trans meant when I was a teenager but I knew I wanted to duct tape my chest flat. Kids these days are being told about binders and safe ways. I could have seriously hurt myself, but the agony of changing into something I wasn’t was too much— I had to try something. I became suicidal. I convinced myself I had to learn how to be okay with being a woman. It never worked.

Puberty blockers would have saved me from having to get top surgery as an adult. If I had known what being trans meant I could have told you at six years old that I wasn’t a girl. I was sure. I was devastated to find out I would grow up and develop breasts and be seen as a woman. At 12 when I learned what a uterus was I demanded it be taken out as soon as possible. Kids know who they are. How sure are you of your own gender? If someone forced you to take hormones and changed your body in ways that made you viscerally uncomfortable how would you react to that? Don’t do that to trans people. Let us live. Safely. Please.”

– Trans* UVA Health patient and Charlottesville resident

TW: “Transgender individuals face higher levels of physical abuse, verbal harassment, bullying, job discrimination, and assault compared to the average American, especially from their own families and loved ones. I’ve had friends’ family members tell them to kill themselves, then have the gall to be disappointed when a suicide attempt fails. I know people who have rehomed transgender foster children and have complained that they couldn’t legally use corporal punishment to ‘fix’ them. I have friends who have been kicked out of their homes, fired from their jobs, lost friends, lost family, just because they are transgender. And as any of my friends can tell you, I’m not a very social person! It’s absolutely terrible that almost every trans person I know has been subjected to these things. Seeing the statistics and thinking “Wow, that’s terrible” is a whole different experience from consoling someone who just lost their home, who just got told to kill themselves, who just tried to kill themselves! Being transgender in this world is not easy, but we don’t have to actively make it worse.

Gender-affirming care has been shown time and time again to be an effective and safe method of reducing suicide rates among the transgender population, as well as decreasing rates of anxiety, depression, and a whole host of other things. The regret rate for gender-affirming care is less than 1%. The regret rate for knee surgery is over 6%. The regret rate for hip replacement is between 7 and 20%. Yet, these instances of medical care are not threatened in the way gender-affirming care is. It isn’t a pseudoscience, it has results and has saved countless lives, and restricting it is to restrict life-changing benefits from this already heavily discriminated against minority, just because of political disagreements.

Surveys have shown that an affirming school environment can decrease suicide attempts by 30% in transgender youth. If UVA stops providing gender-affirming care, it is taking action against the students in need of the most support on this campus, both by restricting necessary medical interventions, as well as by proclaiming that the university does not have the best interest of these students in mind.”

– Trans* UVA student

“Seeking gender-affirming care has been the best decision I have made to improve my quality of life. It has been almost 7 years since I first started receiving gender-affirming care through the UVA health system. It has allowed feel and be seen more as myself, and has given me more confidence in every aspect of my life.“

– Trans* UVA Health patient

“I know a middle schooler who is thriving because of GAC. Who thrives in middle school? This kid! Because they have (HAD) a team of supportive doctors and professionals, supportive teachers, allies in school, and parents who care immensely and listen to them. That is worth gold. To know who you are, be heard, and supported is priceless. Taking this care away and the supportive doctors and professionals is cruel. It is harming the child and their family.”

– Charlottesville community member

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