{"id":741,"date":"2025-04-24T10:36:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T14:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/?p=741"},"modified":"2025-04-28T10:40:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T14:40:15","slug":"council-approves-bills-to-protect-gender-affirming-care-after-hospitals-cave-to-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/2025\/04\/24\/council-approves-bills-to-protect-gender-affirming-care-after-hospitals-cave-to-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Council approves bills to protect gender-affirming care after hospitals cave to Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gay City News<\/a> \u2013 By\u00a0Matt Tracy<\/a> | April 24, 2025<\/p>\n

Standing alongside the co-chairs of the City Council\u2019s LGBTQIA+ Caucus, dozens of advocates fed up with attacks on gender-affirming care huddled on the steps of City Hall on April 24 and chanted, \u201cWhen trans rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!\u201d<\/p>\n

The rally set the stage for an eventful day at City Hall just hours before lawmakers approved a package of bills intended to protect gender-affirming care across the five boroughs after several hospitals either cancelled appointments or otherwise pulled back on care for youth and some adults in recent months as a result of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not defending an \u2018ideology\u2019 \u2014 this thing that the right wing puts up in front of us,\u201d LGBTQIA+ Caucus Co-Chair Tiffany Cab\u00e1n of Queens said during the morning rally. \u201cWe\u2019re defending lives, period.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of the City Council\u2019s vote to approve those bills, the Council noted that in 2017, the city published an LGBTQ Health Care Bill of Rights stipulating that it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation in public accomodations, including healthcare settings, and this past November New Yorkers voted to amend the state constititution to bar discrimination on the basis of gender identity and numerous other areas.<\/p>\n

Int. 1201-A, led by Councilmember Shahana Hanif, broadens a person\u2019s private right of action to include gender-affirming care if there is interference with reproductive or endocrine medical care. <\/p>\n

Another bill, Int. 1200-A, spearheaded by Cab\u00e1n, requires the Mayor\u2019s Office of Equity and Racial Justice to offer information on the legal rights and resources available to transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary, and intersex (TGNCNBI) individuals, such as information on discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity; protections against hate crimes; gender-affirming care access; and more.<\/p>\n

A bill championed by another out lawmaker, Chi Oss\u00e9 of Brooklyn, focuses on protecting trans immigrants: Int. 1203-A requires the Mayor\u2019s Office of Immigrant Affairs to assess the resources available and service gaps for newly-arrived TGNCNBI migrants and create a plan to address those gaps.<\/p>\n

Another bill by Oss\u00e9 (Int. 1204-A) requires the city health commissioner to assess health inequities impacting TGNCNBI individuals and require the health department to create a health agenda for TGNCNBI individuals, including strategies for the department to address the inequities.<\/p>\n

Finally, legislation (Int. 246-A) carried by former LGBTQIA+ Caucus Co-Chair Crystal Hudson, who represents a Brooklyn district, requires agencies that provide social services to update their forms to include an \u201cx\u201d gender marker option. Lawmakers also voted in favor of several resolutions calling on the state to step up protections for gender-affirming care, such as by blocking other states from accessing prescription records to protect privacy and safety of medications like abortion pills, hormone therapy, and puberty blockers.<\/p>\n

The package of gender-affirming bills clearly served an answer to the president\u2019s Executive Order 14187<\/a>, which insisted on banning federal funding for gender-affirming care for individuals under the age of 19 and directing the Department of Health and Human Services secretary to \u201ctake all appropriate actions to end\u201d gender-affirming care. Soon after, media reports indicated several hospitals \u2014 including NYU Langone, Mount Sinai, and New York Presbyterian \u2014 had paused care or canceled appointments<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In turn, New York Attorney General Letitia James wasted little time in warning providers<\/a> that they were obligated under New York State law to provide care without discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and federal courts on both coasts have blocked enforcement of the order<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Months later, the situation with those providers has not changed, according to a Council spokesperson, and neither NYU Langone nor Mount Sinai responded to Gay City News when asked for clarification about the status of gender-affirming care. Someone with knowledge of New York-Presbyterian\u2019s gender-affirming care program told Gay City News that the hospital continues to care for current patients while working through what they characterized as a developing situation to comply with applicable state and federal laws, though the hospital is open to evaluating new patients. <\/p>\n

In contrast, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, which also offers gender-affirming care, is making it clear that it will not back down from its obligation to provide for its patients. Patrick McGovern, the organization\u2019s CEO, issued a lengthy statement to Gay City News underscoring Callen-Lorde\u2019s \u201cunwavering\u2026 commitment to providing the healthcare our patients deserve \u2014 care that is affirming, expert, and rooted in dignity,\u201d including gender-affirming care for youth. <\/p>\n

Citing state and city laws \u2014 and the attorney general\u2019s warnings \u2014 McGovern said Callen-Lorde takes \u201cthat obligation seriously\u201d and \u201cwill never allow politics to dictate the care our patients receive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work is about saving lives \u2014 and we will never back down,\u201d McGovern said.<\/p>\n

In addition to Callen-Lorde, other providers, such as New York City Health + Hospitals, are also continuing to provide care. It is not clear how many providers in the city have changed course in the aftermath of the executive order.<\/p>\n

LGBTQIA+ Caucus Co-Chair Erik Bottcher, surrounded by advocates at City Hall before the April 24 vote, acknowledged that he, as a cisgender gay white man, has benefited \u201cso tremendously\u201d from the progress in the fight for LGBTQ rights in New York State. He said it is time to fix the reality that \u201cprogress is not shared by all members of our community.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is the responsibility of every gay and lesbian and cisgender person to stand up on behalf of our trans siblings,\u201d Bottcher said. \u201cSpeak out and stand up on their behalf, because what the Trump administration and the right want to do is they want to split us apart as a community. They want us to turn against each other. They want the gays and lesbians to consider the trans community as a different struggle. We are not going to let that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe are not going to let them divide us. We are one community, one movement, and one struggle. We will not rest until we achieve full equality for every member of our community in every corner of every state and every country around the globe. Today is a step in that effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bills passed overwhelmingly, but every one of them had \u201cno\u201d votes, and four of the bills \u2014 Int. 1201, Int. 1203, Int. 1204, Int. 246 \u2014 drew a whopping five \u201cno\u201d votes each. The \u201cno\u201d votes for each of those bills came from Councilmembers Joann Ariola, Robert Holden, Vickie Paladino of Queens, Inna Vernikov of Brooklyn, and Kristy Marmorato of the Bronx. Brooklyn Councilmember Simcha Felder abstained from all of the bills in the package, while another Brooklyn councilmember, Darlene Mealy, abstained from Int. 1201, Int. 1203, and Int. 246. Out Councilmember David Carr of Staten Island, the lone Republican in the LGBTQIA+ Caucus, was absent. <\/p>\n

Tensions flared at times during the vote, including when Paladino lashed out in the chamber in response to a comment by Oss\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally have not met one trans person who has caused harm to children or anyone for that matter,\u201d Oss\u00e9 said, before adding that he \u201chas met someone who brought a firearm to a college campus; I have met a person who threatened people\u2019s lives on Twitter\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Paladino, who boasts a long record of voicing blatantly anti-LGBTQ rhetoric on X, lashed out in response and was immediately chastised for being out of order.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo keep attacking somebody for their beliefs, one way or another, just does not work,\u201d she said. \u201cSo how dare you? How dare you?\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThis is not personal. This is just the way it is. Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gay City News<\/a> \u2013 By\u00a0Matt Tracy<\/a> | April 24, 2025<\/p>\n

Standing alongside the co-chairs of the City Council\u2019s LGBTQIA+ Caucus, dozens of advocates fed up with attacks on gender-affirming care huddled on the steps of City Hall on April 24 and chanted, \u201cWhen trans rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!\u201d<\/p>\n

The rally set the stage for an eventful day at City Hall just hours before lawmakers approved a package of bills intended to protect gender-affirming care across the five boroughs after several hospitals either cancelled appointments or otherwise pulled back on care for youth and some adults in recent months as a result of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/a><\/small><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":323,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-leg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/323"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}