Protesters gather against NYC hospitals cancelling trans youth care

“I think we all know that if they wrote that poem today, the first line would be “first they came for the trans kids.”

By Jane Migliara Brigham

Yesterday, Mar. 1, protesters gathered across from NYU Langone Hospital in response to closures of trans youth healthcare programs at the hospital.

The closures also affected other New York based hospitals, such as Mt. Sinai, which also shut off access to trans youth healthcare last month.

The protest, organized by Lambda Independent Democrats, sought to unite the trans public with sympathetic public officials looking to reverse the hospital’s decisions. These officials include Former NYC Comptroller and current Congressional Candidate Brad Lander, and State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, whose district covers NYU Langone hospital, and City Councilman Harvey Epstein.

They were working together with trans community leaders such as Rabbi Abby Stein and Chelsea Manning, both of whom gave speeches to the crowd, along with a number of local organizers.

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The moral case for defending access was on full display, as numerous speakers used their own experiences to defend the dignity of trans people. Organizer Stephanie Fox spoke to The Needle about why this essential to trans dignity:

“Abandoning transgender kids in their moment of need is a moral failure and a public health disaster. Cutting off their care doesn’t make them safer, it puts them in danger. Every young person deserves access to the healthcare that lets them grow up whole, supported, and alive. 

As a transsexual adult, I was once a trans kid, dreaming about living the life I was not allowed then to live. I went through a lot of pain and suffering as a young person that could have been completely avoided if I had access to care. It’s amazing that many kids like I was now have some understanding and support in getting healthcare, and it is outrageous that medical professionals would choose to turn their backs on these young people.

If the mayor and governor are serious about protecting our most vulnerable youth, then the budgets they are currently negotiating need to reflect that commitment. We need money in the budget for trans healthcare at public clinics. Gender‑affirming care saves lives, and refusing to invest in it is a choice that will perpetuate the harm these Mt Sinai and NYU have inflicted.”

Former Comptroller Brad Lander sought to emphasize the importance of coalitions in defending trans care:

“These are times of advancing fascism. And that poem that Reverend Niemöller wrote, at that time it was “first they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I was not a communist, and then the socialists, and then the trade unionists, and then the Jews.” But I think we all know that if they wrote that poem today, the first line would be “first they came for the trans kids.” And the question that history will judge a lot of folks by is “did you speak up when that happened, or did you stand by?”

We are not gonna allow NYU or Mt. Sinai or anybody else in this city to quietly stand by while this regime comes for young trans New Yorkers.”

The public officials made clear that the law is one their side regarding trans youth care. Both the laws of New York City and New York State are clear that discrimination of this kind is illegal, and that the recent executive orders do not supersede these laws.

However, everyone whom The Needle spoke to explained that the problem was that the State and City governments lacked the funding to enforce their own laws. In the absence of such enforcement, hospitals are deferring to demands from the federal government, even when the law favors the city and state.

To this, public officials proposed a carrot and stick approach to the problem. Brad Lander said that “there may be federal funding cuts. That we can’t control.”, but that “We can put more resources in the state budget to ensure that nobody’s healthcare is cut off.”

As for the stick, Senator Gonzalez said that she is unsure which mechanisms will be used to undo these closures and to ensure that no such closure happens in the future, but that she is “having those conversations” with legislators and the Attorney General’s office.

However, a number of trans figures were pessimistic as to how much was being accomplished to preserve and expand healthcare. Rabbi Stein, who is part of the city’s health taskforce, has said that politicians "across the political spectrum” have failed to meet the moment, and that as a result, “a lot of people in our community are (in my opinion) rightfully frustrated” as to the lack of progress.

This is likely in reference to the failure of the new city administration to address the closures, despite having run on the most pro-trans platform of any major politician in the country.

As it stands, most large hospital systems in the city have cancelled trans youth healthcare. The few holdouts are those run by the city or state, those which do not take federal funding (such as Planned Parenthood), or those who specifically target themselves towards queer patients (such as Callen-Lorde).