NYU Langone shut down its youth gender-affirming care program, a spokesperson said on Feb. 18, leading to backlash from elected officials who accused the hospital of caving to pressure from the Trump administration.
“Given the recent departure of our medical director, coupled with the current regulatory environment, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our Transgender Youth Health Program,” Steve Ritea, senior director of media relations at NYU Langone, told Gay City News. “We are committed to helping patients in our care manage this change. This does not impact our pediatric mental health care programs, which will continue.”
The hospital’s decision to end the program, which was first reported by the New York Times, comes almost exactly one year after NYU Langone and several other private hospitals moved to cancel appointments for new youth patients or otherwise withhold care to transgender youth in response to an executive order from the Trump administration. The executive order called to restrict federal funds for providers offering gender-affirming care for individuals under the age of 19.
Then, in December, the White House announced proposed rules stipulating that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would require hospitals participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs to ban gender-affirming care for individuals under the age of 18 and bar federal Medicaid funding for gender-affirming care for minors. The administration also stated that the ban would apply to federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding for gender-affirming care procedures for individuals under the age of 19.
NYU Langone did not respond to a question from Gay City News seeking clarification on whether the hospital is restricting any gender-affirming care for adults.
LGBTQIA+ Caucus Co-Chairs Chi Ossé and Justin Sanchez, who were just named to their leadership posts this month, said NYU Langone’s move amounted to “an attack on the entire LGBTQIA+ community.”
“Closing the medical department that provides care and supportive services to transgender youth is despicable,” the co-chairs stated. “Donald Trump and right-wing forces are manufacturing hysteria around innocent trans youth to advance a broader agenda of ripping away our healthcare. They are targeting youth care today, and if unchecked, adult care will be next. It is deeply disturbing that NYU Langone would so readily comply with that political pressure.”
The pair of lawmakers, echoing a point voiced by Attorney General Letitia James last year, further warned NYU Langone that New York providers cannot, under state law, discriminate on the basis of sex, gender identity or expression, and sexual orientation.
“Denying medically necessary care to a protected group raises serious concerns under state law, and we urge our state leaders to enforce it as necessary,” Ossé and Sanchez said.
Last year, Manhattan Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal introduced legislation to further address anti-trans discrimination in healthcare settings by requiring Medicaid to cover gender-affirming care in New York State — regardless of federal funding — and ban healthcare discrimination against protected classes, including on the basis of age, race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, disability, predisposing genetic characteristics, familial status, marital status, or status as a victim of domestic violence.
Councilmember Tiffany Cabán of Queens, who previously co-chaired the LGBTQIA+ Caucus and now leads the City Council’s Committee on Mental Health, ripped NYU Langone in a written statement.
“NYU Langone: shame on you for bending the knee to the Trump Administration and closing the Transgender Youth Health Program,” Cabán wrote. “It is a disturbing violation of the Hippocratic Oath (First, Do No Harm) to cancel care that is proven to save lives.”
Among other out elected officials, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said he was “extremely disturbed and disappointed” by hospitals that have stopped providing gender-affirming to individuals under 19 years of age.
“This decision, prompted by the Trump administration’s threat to withhold Medicaid funding at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., will jeopardize the lives and well-being of their patients,” Hoylman-Sigal wrote on X. “Studies have shown that ending gender-affirming care after it has begun without patient consent can carry significant physical and mental health risks. For these young patients, gender-affirming care is life-affirming care.”
Kei Williams, the executive director of the statewide LGBTQ advocacy group New Pride Agenda, argued that NYU Langone’s discontinuation of youth gender-affirming care would have a chilling effect on other providers elsewhere.
“This is exactly why New York must take decisive action to safeguard access to care,” Williams said. “We are calling on state leaders to mandate Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming care and ensure that no New Yorker is denied treatment because of politics or pressure from Washington. If the federal government wants to wage a campaign of intimidation, then our state must respond by fortifying access, making it clear that in New York, trans youth will not be abandoned.”
The New York City Commission on Human Rights said it was “deeply troubled” by NYU’s decision to close the program.
“The NYC Commission on Human Rights stands firmly with the transgender community,” the agency said in a written statement. “We have been and will continue to investigate claims of discriminatory denial of health care services, and we remain committed to continuing to enforce the New York City Human Rights Law to ensure that all New Yorkers can live, work, and thrive with dignity.”
