More than a week has passed since Gay City News asked multiple New York City-area hospitals how they planned to respond to President Trump’s explosive executive order demanding that institutions receiving federal funding stop providing gender-affirming care for youth.
The order sent shockwaves through the community at a time when many people hoped that state and local protections would blunt the worst of the Trump administration’s attacks on LGBTQ Americans. Yet, within days of that order, NYU Langone and Mount Sinai had halted appointments for youth seeking gender-affirming care, according to a New York Times report and elected officials. Then, New York Presbyterian scrubbed references to gender-affirming care.
Time is ticking, and we still do not have answers to our questions about the status of those services. The lack of transparency and communication from some of New York City’s top providers of gender-affirming care is more concerning with every passing day. Patients and their families have a right to know what is going on with their healthcare, but instead, they are caught in limbo — and radio silence from providers will do nothing to bolster confidence in the healthcare system.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has even issued a warning to providers reminding them of their obligation, in accordance with state law, to continue providing gender-affirming care. She also pointed to a federal court ruling that she said halted the Trump administration’s order regarding gender-affirming care, and a Justice Department directive backed that up.
The president’s transphobic order insists that gender-affirming for youth is a “dangerous trend” that “will be a stain on our nation’s history,” but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The order disregarded mountains of research defending gender-affirming care, which has been supported by numerous medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is made up of 67,000 pediatricians committed to the health and well-being of youth. A study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in 2022 found that the use of gender-affirming hormone therapy lowered the odds of depression and suicide among transgender and non-binary youth. A separate report in the Journal of American Medicine found that gender-affirming care was successful in improving moderate or severe depression by 60% among trans youth.
We know the president has no good reason to disrupt gender-affirming care. The Trump campaign rode a wave of transphobia all the way to the White House: He ran sensational and false advertisements denouncing trans individuals and attacked anything related to transgender Americans with shameful terms like “transgender lunacy.”
Anyone who labels marginalized communities with such outrageous terminology shouldn’t be taken seriously, but Trump is the president — and he is making it clear that he intends to do everything in his great power to erase transgender and non-binary Americans.
Providers must take a stand against this dangerous slippery slope. They should be transparent about their actions and explain how they will restore gender-affirming care for trans youth rather than cave in to the Trump administration’s slate of hate.
