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
Winsome Earle-Sears ‘Life and Marriage Tour’ to include Northern Va. stops
Voters to consider marriage equality, reproductive rights referenda in November
Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears has announced her campaign against efforts to enshrine marriage equality and reproductive rights in the state constitution will make several stops in Northern Virginia.
Her “Life and Marriage Tour” will include stops in Manassas, Winchester, and Harrisonburg. Earle-Sears said the “Life and Marriage Tour” will also travel to Virginia Beach, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Charlottesville, and other cities across Virginia “throughout September and October.”
The announcement did not include specific dates.
“Virginia, you’ve been asking where the Life and Marriage Tour is headed — here’s a look at our current tour locations,” she said on X on Tuesday. “We’ll be traveling across the commonwealth throughout September and October, and we’re still building the journey.”
Current Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, last November defeated Earle-Sears, a Republican, in the race to succeed Republican Glenn Youngkin.
Voters in 2006 approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment, which defined marriage in Virginia as between a man and a woman.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Youngkin a decade later signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
Two successive legislatures must approve a proposed constitutional amendment before it can go to the ballot.
Spanberger signed bills that finalized the marriage equality and reproductive rights referenda’s language.
The referenda will take place on Nov. 3.
Virginia
Doug Ollivant to face Eugene Vindman in Va. 7th Congressional District
Republican defeated challengers in Tuesday’s primary
Republican Doug Ollivant will face off against incumbent U.S. Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
Ollivant defeated his Republican opponents in Tuesday’s primary. Vindman ran unopposed.
Vindman in 2024 ran to succeed then-Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger in the U.S. House of Representatives after she ran for governor. Spanberger succeeded Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2025.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) on Tuesday easily won his primary. All other Democratic incumbent members of Congress from Northern Virginia also won their respective primaries.
Virginia
Winsome Earle-Sears launches campaign against Va. marriage equality amendment
Former LG lost to Abigail Spanberger in 2025 gubernatorial race
Less than a year after losing Virginia’s gubernatorial race, former Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is campaigning across the state against constitutional amendments that would protect marriage equality and reproductive freedom.
She is launching a statewide “Life and Marriage Tour” ahead of November’s election.
Although same-sex couples can legally marry under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, Virginia’s constitution still contains language that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Supporters say removing the language would protect marriage equality should federal precedent change.
The original ban was written into the state constitution in 2006.
It has been hinted at in the past by Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas that he would consider revisiting Obergefell v. Hodges regarding contraception and marriage rights for same-sex couples. He stated this in his concurring opinion regarding the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, which allows for state-level abortion bans.
Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman said removing the ban would bring the state’s constitution in line with existing law.
“20 years after banning marriage equality, it’s time for our commonwealth to fully complete our evolution — and finish the job on protecting marriage equality for all,” Rahaman said.
In an email to supporters, Earle-Sears said these amendments “raise serious concerns” and could alter principles about which Virginians care.
“That is why our efforts are focused not only on informing voters, but also encouraging them to carefully consider these proposals and vote NO on both amendments,” Earle-Sears said.
Virginia voters will consider three constitutional amendments this November.
Earle-Sears is campaigning for voters to reject two of them: the Virginia Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment and the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
A “Yes” vote on the Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment would include removing a provision that states marriage is between one man and one woman and prohibitng the state from denying a marriage license to two adults based on their sex, gender, or race, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
In 2025, during debates against now Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Earle-Sears argued it is not discrimination to think that gay people should not be allowed to marry. She claims it conflicts with her faith.
According to ABC 8, in 2024 she wrote that she had a “moral opposition” to marriage equality, after former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, signed a marriage equality bill that barred denying marriage licenses based on sex, gender, or race.
According to the Virginia Department of Elections, a “Yes” vote on the Reproductive Freedom amendment supports adding a section to the state constitution that would give Virginians the right to make and carry out decisions regarding reproductive healthcare, except in specific exemptions.
The Virginia Department of Elections wrote that if accepted, the amendment would allow the state government to pass laws to regulate abortion care in the third trimester of pregnancy, but require abortion care when it is medically needed to protect the life and health of the pregnant person or because the fetus is not viable.
During the 2025 election cycle, Earle-Sears was clear on her anti-abortion stance.
According to the Virginia Independent, she utilized campaign funds to donate to the Family Foundation of Virginia. The group is a faith-based, anti-abortion, and anti-in vitro fertilization non-profit.
The “Life and Marriage Tour” will include traveling throughout Virginia to speak with citizens, churches, community organizations, and local leaders. The exact locations have yet to be announced.
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