Manhattan Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal is introducing new legislation to clamp down on anti-trans discrimination in healthcare settings in the Empire State after President Donald Trump’s executive orders prompted multiple hospitals to curtail gender-affirming care in New York City.
Rosenthal is proposing legislation that would require 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, according to the bill’s text.
“Every executive order is devastating, but [Trump’s] fixation on people who are transgender is startling,” Rosenthal, who represents the Upper West Side and parts of Hell’s Kitchen, said in an interview with Gay City News on Feb. 26. “We have to protect trans people here in New York State.”
The bill follows two federal court rulings blocking enforcement of two of the president’s executive orders that led to the sudden pause in gender-affirming care. Executive Order 14187, entitled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” called not only to ban federal funding for gender-affirming care for individuals under the age of 19, but also directed the Department of Health and Human Services secretary to “take all appropriate actions to end” gender-affirming care, “including regulatory and sub-regulatory actions.” Another executive order sought to erase transgender individuals entirely.
Section 1557 the Affordable Care Act extended discrimination protections on the basis of gender identity, but that has been the target of litigation and a federal district judge blocked that provision last year. On Feb. 20, HHS rescinded Biden-era guidance specifying that Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act bars discrimination on the basis of gender identity in federally-funded healthcare settings.
New York State Human Rights Law already protects against discrimination at places of public accommodation, which includes health clinics and hospitals — and New York City does, as well. Still, that did not stop some New York hospitals from caving in to the president’s executive orders.
“We have to provide extra protection so that the court order won’t be undermined in some way,” Rosenthal said. “We can’t run. We can’t hide. Part of my goal here is to show New York State will stand up.”
She added: “We have to amp up protections for people who are targets of the Trump administration.”
