All,
What an unforgettable Fall Weekend. It was energizing seeing more than 100 of you back in Charlottesville! Thank you for bringing your spirit, your stories, and your support. Please enjoy these photo highlights!
We began the weekend by honoring Cedric Rucker (Grad class of ’84), our Bernard Mayes recipient and recently retired Dean of Students. His fireside chat reminded us why community matters, especially now. He shared wise words from his grandmother for when times are tough:
“Don’t be bitter, be better.”
QVA is proud to carry this message forward with purpose. Even amid the significant pressure higher education is facing, our commitment to UVA’s queer community remains unwavering, and our scholarships, advocacy, and community building events continue unabated.
We concluded the weekend celebrating a milestone: Professor Charlotte Patterson’s retirement after 50 years at UVA. Charlotte is a pioneering scholar and was among the first researchers to study children growing up in same-sex parent families. At a time when laws and policies wrongly insisted that children do best with a heterosexual mother and father, Charlotte boldly did extensive, peer-reviewed research and proved that children raised by same-sex couples do just as well. Her research shaped law at the highest levels and has been cited in:
- 278 scholarly law journals
- 104 federal court briefs
- 18 U.S. Supreme Court briefs, including Obergefell v. Hodges
In recognition of Charlotte’s extraordinary contributions, we are proud to announce a new scholarship in honor of Charlotte and her wife, Debbie, supporting UVA students pursuing scholarship about LGBTQ+ health – whether mental, physical, or social. It reflects both their legacy and the need to address ongoing health disparities in our community.
Thanks to your generosity at Fall Weekend, we are already within reach of our $60,000 goal! A one-time gift of $100, or a recurring gift over 5 years, will help us fully fund the scholarship before year-end and support the next generation of LGBTQ+ leaders at UVA.
Thank you for supporting a community that I am so proud to be a part of. We’ll be in touch in the new year about upcoming 2026 events. In the meantime, we remain fully committed to supporting UVA’s deserving students without pause.
Yours,
Lance Guthrie (Com class of ’14)
