Of the three major hospital systems in New York City (Mount Sinai, NYU Langone, and NewYork-Presbyterian), NewYork-Presbyterian is the only one that has not yet made a deal with the federal Department of Justice to end gender-affirming care for trans youth — and activists are worried that is about to change. 

On October 1, over 50 protesters, mainly from ACT UP NYC and Gender Liberation Movement, picketed NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center on East 68th Street. They held signs that read “Trans Lives Are Not Bargaining Chips,” “Silence Is Deadly,” “Protect Trans Lives,” and “Do No Harm,” as they circled the entrance.

“These are some of the largest hospitals in the city and country that provide gender-affirming care for trans youth,” said Eliel Cruz, a cofounder and lead spokesperson for Gender Liberation Movement. “People moved to New York City 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 early September, Mount Sinai announced that it would be ending gender-affirming care for trans youth as a part of a settlement with the Trump administration. A spokesperson said the hospital network settled to prevent patient records being subpoenaed by a federal grand jury. Just over a week later, the Department of Justice announced that NYU Langone had also reached a deal to end gender-affirming care for minors. 

Like Mount Sinai, NYU Langone said they settled out of concern for patient privacy. “Under this agreement, DOJ has agreed to resolve its investigations, removing the threat that NYU Langone would have to provide the confidential information previously demanded about patients under 18 who received gender-affirming care at our institution,” the hospital said in a statement.

Left behind are the children receiving gender-affirming care. Trans youth are at a much higher risk of experiencing life-threatening mental health issues: According to a 2019 survey by the Trevor Project, 29% of transgender and non-binary youth reported attempting suicide in the previous year, and 54% reported seriously considering it.

Meanwhile, a 2020 study published in the medical journal Pediatrics found a lower rate of suicidal ideation among trans adults who’d received puberty blockers as adolescents, and a 2015 survey of trans adults analyzed by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that respondents who’d received the gender-affirming hormone therapy or surgical care they needed had a significantly lower rate of suicide attempts in the previous year—5.1%, compared with 8.5% among those who hadn’t gotten such care.’
Gender-affirming care for trans youth usually takes the form of puberty blockers and hormone therapy. These treatments give them the option to explore their gender identity without going through the physiological changes that puberty brings, which can worsen gender dysphoria. Trans youth very rarely undergo surgery, despite the Trump Administration’s promotion of the idea that hospitals are performing “genital mutilation” on children. 

In fact, gender-affirming care goes far beyond medical intervention. The World Health Organization defines it as “encompassing  a range of social, psychological, behavioral, and medical interventions designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity.” So Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s offer to provide testosterone replacement therapy for soldiers that he deems as having an insufficient amount of hormonal masculinity would qualify as gender-affirming care.

The importance of gender-affirming care for transgender youth at hospitals like NewYork-Presbyterian is that it also sends a message to trans children and their families, said Tyler Hack, founder of the Christopher Street Project, a political action group focused solely on trans rights. 

“If you can go to Mount Sinai and NYU and see these health-care programs out in the open, you know where to go to find the experts in the field, and to get world-class health care for your kids,” Hack said. “There will still be ways for kids to get this health care in New York, it is protected by state and city law, and there’s no federal statute banning gender-affirming care for kids, despite what the administration would want you to think.”

There are still organizations like Callen-Lorde, (an over 50 year old organization that provides healthcare for LGBTQ+ individuals), to make sure kids have continuous care, she added, but that doesn’t mean the consequences won’t be dire.

“The main concern is a barrier to entry that makes people go through more hoops to actually get to that initial doctor’s appointment,” Hack said. “Which will kill kids. The reality is that these health-care programs are life-saving. There are countless reputable studies showing that puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender youth are safe, effective, have minute regret rates, and in many cases, are life-saving for an already vulnerable population. If an action like this means that fewer kids will be able to get care, the result is higher suicidality among these kids.”

The picket at NewYork-Presbyterian was a part of Gender Liberation Movement and ACT-UP NYC’s commitment to picket a hospital on the first Thursday of every month through Pride 2027, to demand that hospitals restart their gender-affirming care programs for trans youth.

Angelica Jadunandan testified in front of Mount Sinai during a protest on September 8, shortly after its settlement was announced. She moved to New York from Florida three years ago because her 8-year-old daughter is trans. New York City is a “sanctuary city” for trans people, meaning that there are strong legal protections for them.

“My daughter told me she was trans when she was three years old,” Jadunandan told the protest. “It wasn’t ‘I think.’ It was ‘I know.’ And ‘why don’t you understand this?’”

Weeping at points, she said that she always encourages her daughter to do what “makes her sparkle shine,” something her daughter said to her after she chose a feminine name when she was four, one that she still goes by.

Jadunandan is estranged from her extended family, conservative Christians, over her daughter’s gender identity. She said that nothing would stop her from fighting for her daughter. 

“If my daughter ever told me gender-affirming care would make her feel more comfortable, safer, or more like herself in a world where she couldn’t be. I will find a way to make that appointment for her,” Jadunandan said. “I know better than most that this fight will follow you. But we have numbers here, we are empowered to make change here. The world looks to this city as a beacon of what can be possible. I know because I looked here.”