The federal government’s unprecedented campaign to dismantle trans rights during the first 100 days of the second Trump administration has prompted demands for local and state leaders to shore up LGBTQ rights — especially trans rights — in any way possible.
The New York City Council started delivering on those demands on April 24 when city lawmakers approved a package of bills to protect gender-affirming care and other trans rights less than three months after some local hospitals nixed appointments for youth seeking gender-affirming care or otherwise changed their care in response to the Trump administration’s executive order seeking to bar federal funding for institutions offering such care.
Even after federal court rulings blocked enforcement of that executive order, a City Council spokesperson told Gay City News the situation has not changed at those hospitals, making the legislative package as urgent as it was when the president’s order was first handed down in late January.
One important bill in the package broadened a person’s private right of action to include gender-affirming care in case of any interference with reproductive or endocrine medical care. A separate bill in the package required the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs to create a plan to address the service gaps for newly-arrived TGNCNBI migrants. The package also included legislation requiring city agencies to provide social services to update their forms to include an “x” gender marker option.
All of the bills in the package drew “no” votes, but four of them were rejected by five city lawmakers: Joann Ariola, Robert Holden, and Vickie Paladino of Queens, Inna Vernikov of Brooklyn, and Kristy Marmorato of the Bronx. Gay City News reached out to each of those lawmakers to seek an explanation for their “no” votes, but did not receive a response by press time.
Vernikov, however, posted about it on the social media platform X, pushing wildly false narratives about gender identity and blasting her colleagues for passing what she described as a “GENDER IDEOLOGY LEGISLATION PACKAGE,” saying, “The priorities of this council are upside down! NEW YORKERS DESERVE BETTER!”
City lawmakers are tasked with representing their constituents, and in case they need a reminder, trans constituents live in each of the 51 districts across the five boroughs. Those elected to represent New Yorkers should be working together to serve their constituents rather than pushing blatantly nonsensical, baseless rhetoric about transgender individuals who are already facing great adversity in the face of unyielding transphobia from the federal government.
Thankfully, most of the City Council voted for the no-brainer package to improve the landscape for trans and non-binary individuals in New York City. The city lawmakers who supported that package should be cheered for stepping up when needed, especially the councilmembers who carried the bills: Shahana Hanif of Brooklyn, LGBTQIA+ Caucus Co-Chair Tiffany Cabán of Queens, Chi Ossé of Brooklyn, and former LGBTQIA+ Caucus Co-Chair Crystal Hudson of Brooklyn.
What’s next? Notably, the package featured resolutions calling on the state to do its part to bolster protections for trans New Yorkers, including by blocking other states from accessing prescription records for medications like abortion pills, hormone therapy, and puberty blockers. Given the aggressive nature of the federal government’s coordinated campaign of transphobia, the state would be wise to move quickly to find opportunities to safeguard the rights of trans New Yorkers and the broader LGBTQ community.
