If you’re lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender-nonbinary or queer, odds are, you've faced barriers to healthcare. Studies show that most LGBTQ people have. Discrimination includes denial of service, harassment, and bias in healthcare settings. Many healthcare professionals lack information about the healthcare needs of LGBTQ patients.
Like others, you may have chosen to stay silent. You've hidden your sexual orientation or gender identity when visiting the doctor. Or, like many people in the LGBTQ community, you haven’t seen a doctor at all.
UVA Health's Commitment to LGBTQ-Affirming Care
At UVA Health, you'll find providers committed to providing LGBTQ-affirming health services to our patients. We know getting the care you need can be stressful. We aim to help by creating a safe and welcoming environment for all of our patients.
Our services include:
Charley's Gender-Confirmation Surgery
From a young age, Charley Burton knew that his body did not match his gender identity – a struggle he kept inside for 50 years. With the help of family nurse practitioner Reagan Thompson, FNP, MSN, RN, and a whole team of caring providers, Charley found a safe place to become his true self. View Charley's story transcript.
LGBTQ Healthcare at UVA
At UVA, we want you to find a welcoming, safe, and inclusive environment. We have providers with years of experience serving the LGBT community. We provide trainings to guide team members in living our commitment to equity for all.
We emphasize compassionate care for your whole person and offer:
- Primary and family medicine
- LGB-specific health screenings
- Reproductive and sexual health support
- Transgender healthcare services
- Information and resources
- Specialty referrals
- Financial screenings
- Patient education
Our organizational values put patients at the center of everything we do. We aspire to create a compassionate, inclusive environment for all.
UVA Health strongly supports the LGBTQ community and continues to provide gender-affirming care, services, and support for patients going through gender transition. UVA Health doesn't discriminate, exclude, or treat differently patients or visitors based on their race, age, color, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression.
UVA Health is a community of healing, compassion, inclusion, and respect for all. Discrimination and prejudice have no place here. See our non-discrimination policy.
A Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality
UVA Health earned the “LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Leader” designation for scoring 100 points on the Human Rights Campaign's Healthcare Equality Index.
These barriers to prevention and treatment, along with other consequences of social marginalization, negatively impact the overall health of the LGBTQ population. LGB people experience higher rates of:
- Asthma
- Headache
- Allergies
- Osteoarthritis
- GI problems
- Sexual violence
- Alcoholism
- Mental illness
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular disease
- Obesity
- Hepatitis B and C
- Urinary tract infections
- Sexually transmitted infections
Transgender people face higher risks of:
- Emotional and psychological abuse
- Physical and sexual violence
- Sexually transmitted infections, viral hepatitis and HIV
- Substance misuse
- Suicide – 40% have attempted
- Poverty – 15% live below the poverty line
- Inadequate health insurance