LGBTQ Groups and NYC Congressional Representatives Denounce Trump DOJ’s Cruel and Illegal Mount Sinai Settlement Attacking Gender-Affirming Care
NEW YORK, NY – Donald Trump’s Department of Justice on Friday announced a settlement with Mount Sinai forcing the health care system to close its pediatric gender clinic and pay out millions in penalties, ripping away a critical node providing lifesaving gender-affirming care for thousands of New Yorkers.
Gender-affirming care is essential and scientifically proven health care; discontinuing these services for transgender and non-binary youth is not only cruel, but it is dangerous. This inhumane agreement is the latest attack from the Trump administration’s anti-trans agenda, and comes at the expense of young patients — in clear violation of New York State’s Shield Law 2.0, which explicitly protects gender-affirming care for both patients and providers and prohibits health care institutions like Mount Sinai from cooperating with politically motivated, out-of-state investigations.
Our community deserves access to safe, reliable, gender-affirming care from trustworthy providers. This decision puts young New Yorkers further from lifesaving care and risks the safety of trans kids across the city.
The Stonewall Democratic Club of NYC, Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn and Equality New York joins with our Congressional leaders in denouncing the settlement as a violation of state law and a dangerous attack on the safety and health of our community, and calls on state leaders to further expand access to health care by establishing a permanent gender-affirming care access program and allowing Medicaid to cover care for transgender and non-binary youth.
Stonewall Democratic Club of NYC President John Wahlmeier, said, “This dangerous settlement is an appalling attack on the health and safety of young New Yorkers. Transgender people are once again being callously targeted and having access to live-saving care ripped away by a justice system weaponized by Donald Trump. Trans people deserve rights, access to health care, and dignity. Thankfully, we have fighters at the state and federal level who are standing up to defend our community and enforce state law.”
Lambda Independent Democrats President Stephanie Fox, said, “Mount Sinai’s reckless settlement with the Trump administration to deny gender-affirming care to trans youth is a shameful betrayal of the young people who rely on them for lifesaving healthcare. It is deeply unacceptable that the New York State Attorney General failed to take action sooner to enforce our state’s anti-discrimination laws before these medical institutions caved to federal intimidation. Lambda Independent Democrats will not stay silent while local hospitals ignore the suffering of young people to political bullying, and we demand immediate action from the Attorney General and NYC Human Rights Commission, as well as increased funding in the State and City budgets for independent youth healthcare.”
Equality New York Executive Director Amanda Babine, said, “The continued attack on Transgender people and their well-being here in New York remains a cause of great concern. Mount Sinai’s settlement with the Department of Justice and the Trump Administration, to deny life saving Gender Affirming Care to Transgender youth, sends a message that New York is in fact not really a sanctuary state for Transgender people.
We will not back down and will continue to take additional actions to ensure gender affirming care is available for transgender youth. EQNY will not stop fighting for our Transgender youth and want them to know they are not alone.”
Congress Member Grace Meng (NY-6) said, "This week, the Justice Department strong-armed one of New York’s largest hospital systems into turning its back on some of its own patients — with no law behind it and in defiance of any medical authority. Doctors and families, not federal prosecutors, should decide what care a child needs. Every major medical association in this country has found this care safe and necessary.
When Washington can dictate the medical care your family receives, no American’s freedom is safe. New Yorkers are already stretched thin by rent, groceries and the cost of seeing a doctor. They deserve a government focused on making their lives easier, not telling doctors how to treat their patients."
Congress Member Dan Goldman (NY-10) said, “Mount Sinai's decision to close its pediatric gender clinic is a devastating blow to families grappling with health care decisions and a shameful capitulation to the Trump administration. New Yorkers — including our hospitals — must stand firm against this administration’s efforts to demonize the most vulnerable among us for political purposes. I stand proudly with the trans community, and the broader LGBTQ+ community, as they face relentless threats from this President and those who enable his hateful agenda.”
Congress Member Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), said, “In the face of cruel and relentless attacks against transgender people and the entire LGBTQ+ community, it is the duty of institutions and individuals to stand against hatred and fight for what is morally and legally just. I am deeply disappointed that Mount Sinai has struck a deal with the Trump administration, an administration which is violating the personal dignity and constitutionally guaranteed rights of transgender people across our country. I will continue to fight for our community members so they have the dignity and access to care all Americans deserve.”
Congress Member Ritchie Torres (NY-15) said, “Gender-affirming care is health care, and the Trump administration's settlement with Mount Sinai forces a health care institution to abandon patients who depend on it. This agreement runs counter to the spirit of New York's Shield Law 2.0, which was written to protect gender-affirming care from exactly this kind of overreach. Transgender youth in New York deserve care from providers who will not bend to political pressure from Washington."
Brad Lander, Former NYC Comptroller and Democratic Congressional Nominee (NY-10) said, “Gender-affirming care saves lives, respects the rights of patients, and reflects that health-care is supposed to be between providers and patients, not between providers and the Trump Administration. I recently met with families of trans kids, some of whom moved to New York because of our legacy of inclusion, who now feel like refugees forced to look for a new home that will protect their kids’ well-being. Shame on Mt. Sinai for capitulating with this settlement, which violates that legacy of inclusion, their own Hippocratic oath, and New York’s human rights laws.”
Assemblyman Micah Lasher (69-AD) and Nominee for (NY-12), said, “This settlement is the Trump administration using the machinery of the federal government to target trans kids and the care they rely on — and I am disappointed to see Mount Sinai go along with it rather than stand by the young people who trusted them. I am committed to protecting access to gender-affirming care for trans kids in the face of the hateful attacks coming from Washington.”
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