Virginia
VCU halts gender-affirming care
Broader healthcare threats loom as White House threatens to withhold federal funding
On Tuesday, Virginia Commonwealth University announced it would stop providing and researching gender-affirming care at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU for anyone under the age of 19.
In a post on the hospital’s website, it said the decision was made to stay within federal and state directives and was a result of “a thoughtful and thorough assessment that revealed no other viable options at this time.”
VCU staff — part of one of the largest healthcare providers in the state — were notified by email of the change, which announced they would “wind down these services,” a claim the hospital has made before.
In January, President Donald Trump signed the “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” executive order which is, at its core, designed to vilify transgender people. Since then, VCU stopped providing trans-specific care, then backtracked, allowing doctors to prescribe puberty blockers and hormone therapy, according to Axios.
Wyatt S. M. Rolla, a senior transgender rights tttorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, spoke with the Washington Blade about the negative impact VCU’s decision will have on trans children’s healthcare.
“I think a really important starting point is that gender-affirming care is legal in the state of Virginia, including for individuals under the age of 19, and there are doctors, nurses, clinicians across the state that are committed to still providing that care to patients,” Rolla said.
Rolla went on to explain that even though providing gender-affirming care for minors is legal in Virginia, this executive order has a chilling effect on hospitals and is preemptively causing institutions like VCU to stop offering it.
“The primary impact of that executive order was to threaten the disruption of federal funding to hospitals that were providing that care,” they added. “There have been multiple pieces of litigation filed to challenge that threat to disrupt grants to institutions that are providing this care, and the executive order — that provision of it — is actually enjoined by multiple federal courts right now and cannot be used as a basis to terminate federal funding.”
They continued, explaining that this is not the only method of control the Trump-Vance administration is using.
“The Trump administration is weaponizing the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Trade Commission, [and] other federal agencies to try to bully healthcare providers into discriminating against their patients, and that should disturb everyone, because it won’t stop at trans people.”
These other fears, Rolla explained, could encroach on broader issues of bodily autonomy and safety that Republicans deem “controversial” — especially if medical boards, which are supposed to be non-political, are affected by orders like this one.
“I mean, it is setting a really dangerous precedent for all Virginians,” Rolla said. “And I think it’s not just a question of how other hospitals in Virginia will respond regarding gender-affirming care. Tomorrow, this could be a conversation about reproductive health services or HIV treatment or other vital health care that someone has decided is politically controversial. It’s really important to recognize the threat of undermining public trust in our medical institutions and endangering the communities that they’re meant to serve by refusing to provide medical care that providers have determined is necessary.”
When asked what the ACLU of Virginia hopes children seeking gender-affirming care will know, Rolla said:
“I want those young people and their families to know that again, there are doctors, nurses, clinicians across the state that are working around the clock to make sure they are able to provide you the care that you need, and there are advocates [and] community members that are going to fight on every terrain necessary to preserve the legal ability of those health care providers to do that. So while those young people are being cynically targeted for political advantage, I want them to know that they’re not alone and that there is a deep bench of people that are fighting to have for them to access the resources they need to thrive and grow into the beautiful adults that we know they deserve to be.”
The ACLU also sent a statement condemning the actions of VCU.
Equality Virginia, He She Ze and We, Side by Side, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, the Transgender Assistance Program of Virginia, Seven Hills Family Medicine, Health Brigade, Thriving Trans Men of Color, Virginia LGBTQ+ Bar Association, the Calos Coalition, the Shenandoah LGBTQ Center, Progress Virginia, and the Campaign for Southern Equality co-signed the statement. They claim VCU’s decision is a direct result of Trump and the Republican Party’s “hateful political agenda” and has nothing to do with healthcare.
“We see the political strategy. We reject it. We’ll keep fighting for trans youth, their families, and providers who support them,” reads the statement.
Virginia
DOJ seeks to join lawsuit against Loudoun County over trans student in locker room
Three male high school students suspended after complaining about classmate
The Justice Department has asked to join a federal lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools over the way it handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.
The Washington Blade earlier this year reported Loudoun County public schools suspended the three boys and launched a Title IX investigation into whether they sexually harassed the student after they said they felt uncomfortable with their classmate in the locker room at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.
The parents of two of the boys filed a lawsuit against Loudoun County public schools in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal, which White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller co-founded, represent them.
The Justice Department in a Dec. 8 press release announced that “it filed legal action against the Loudoun County (Va.) School Board (Loudoun County) for its denial of equal protection based on religion.”
“The suit alleges that Loudoun County applied Policy 8040, which requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, to two Christian, male students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” reads the press release.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release said “students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.”
“Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality,” said Dhillon.
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and outgoing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in May announced an investigation into the case.
The Virginia Department of Education in 2023 announced the new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in February launched an investigation into whether Loudoun County and four other Northern Virginia school districts’ policies in support of trans and nonbinary students violate Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order that prohibits federally funded educational institutions from promoting “gender ideology.”
Virginia
Repealing marriage amendment among Va. House Democrats’ 2026 legislative priorities
Voters approved Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006
Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates on Monday announced passage of a resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman is among their 2026 legislative priorities.
State Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County) has introduced the resolution in the chamber. State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) is the sponsor of an identical proposal in the state Senate.
Both men are gay.
Voters approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin last year signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
A resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment passed in the General Assembly in 2021. The resolution passed again this year.
Two successive legislatures must approve the resolution before it can go to the ballot.
Democrats on Election Day increased their majority in the House of Delegates. Their three statewide candidates — Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, Lt. Gov.-elect Ghazala Hashmi, and Attorney General-elect Jay Jones — will take office in January.
“Virginians elected the largest House Democratic Majority in nearly four decades because they trust us to fight for them and deliver real results,” said House Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) on Monday in a press release that announced his party’s legislative priorities. “These first bills honor that trust. Our agenda is focused on lowering costs, lifting wages, expanding opportunity, protecting Virginians rights, and ensuring fair representation as Donald Trump pushes Republican legislatures across the country to manipulate congressional maps for partisan gain. House Democrats are ready to meet this moment and deliver the progress Virginians expect.”
Virginia
Ghazala Hashmi names Equality Virginia executive director to transition team
Narissa Rahaman will join Adam Ebbin, Mark Sickles on LG-elect’s committee.
Virginia Lt. Gov.-elect Ghazala Hashmi has named Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman to her transition team.
State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) and state Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County) are among those who Hashmi also named to her Transition Committee.
“I am honored to have this diverse group of leaders join our transition,” said Hashmi in a statement. “Their experience, perspective, and commitment to public service will help build an Office of the Lieutenant Governor that is responsive, innovative, and relentlessly focused on improving the lives of every Virginia resident.”
“Together, we will develop a thoughtful roadmap for the work ahead — one that ensures we are engaging communities, strengthening partnerships across the state, and preparing this office to serve with purpose and conviction from Day One,” she added. “I am grateful to each member for bringing time, expertise, and passion to this effort.”
Hashmi, a Democrat, defeated Republican John Reid, who is openly gay, on Nov. 4.
Hashmi will succeed outgoing Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears on Jan. 17.
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