LGBTQ+ activists picketed outside New York-Presbyterian on Thursday afternoon to pressure the hospital not to follow Mount Sinai and settle with the Trump administration’s Department of Justice. 

“These are some of the largest hospitals in the city and country that provide gender affirming care for trans youth,” said Eliel Cruz, a co-founder and communications lead of Gender Liberation Movement. “People moved to NYC because of its shield law for trans kids. These hospitals have completely left them behind and shirked responsibility. They have not even been told whether they can receive continuity of care.”

In January 2025, the Trump administration put out an executive order directing federal agencies to limit access to gender affirming care for trans youth under 19 years old. In the days following, NYU Langone and Mount Sinai cancelled appointments for minors seeking gender affirming care, and  New-York Presbyterian scrubbed all phrases from their website that referred to gender-affirming care for minors. 

Last week, Mount Sinai announced that they would be ending gender-affirming care for trans youth as a part of a settlement with the Trump administration, which a spokesperson said was to prevent patient records being subpoenaed by a federal grand jury. The picket was a part of Gender Liberation Movement and ACT-UP NYC’s commitment to picket a hospital the first Thursday of the month through Pride, to demand that hospitals restart their gender-affirming care programs for trans youth.

Currently, trans patients under 18 cannot receive treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy. The hospital also must spend $2 million on a “detransition clinic.” Like Mount Sinai, New York-Presbyterian is likely in talks to settle with the DOJ, the Gender Liberation Movement said.  

Over 50 protestors held signs that read “trans lives are not bargaining chips, silence is deadly, protect trans lives, and do no harm,” and circled the entrance of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center on east 68th street.

New York-Presbyterian sees more than 2 million patients each year across its network. The hospital has not released information about the number of trans youth receiving gender-affirming care who have been impacted by the roll back in care.

Anabel, a protestor with ACT-UP NYC, said hospitals like New York-Presbyterian had a choice. 

“This is the last of the three major hospitals that have been targeted by the DOJ who have not settled. And if we can pressure them into not doing it, to not going into a settlement, and staying strong, then that sends a message,” she said. 

Anabel also said she hopes that voters will reject the Republicans in the upcoming midterms, and in the 2028 presidential election. 

“I don’t think it’s going to be a Republican president. I think it’s very likely to be the Democratic Congress. So, it’s up to them if they want to stick it out for two more years, or to enter into a settlement that locks them into discriminatory practices.”

Through tears, another protester, Aidan, a 23 year-old who described himself as a trans elder, said he was at Wednesday’s protest to “make sure that our children know they are not alone.” 

Aidan described a childhood in which he felt shame and rejection due to his identity as a trans youth growing up in a “non-accepting area.” 

“Feeling the hatred and the shame and not knowing why….” Aidan said, recalling what he had faced as a young trans person who did not have access to care. 

“I wouldn’t even wish it on Trump.”

All photography contributed by Chae Kihn