New York City Hall – Photo: @NYCMayor, via Twitter
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has issued an executive order establishing New York City as a safe haven for transgender people seeking gender-affirming health care.
Known as Executive Order 32, the order bars city officials from complying with out-of-state requests to detain individuals who have violated other states’ laws banning gender-affirming care for specific populations, so long as the treatments would be legal in New York State.
The order also prohibits city officials from cooperating with out-of-state investigations into individuals who have received or provided gender-affirming treatments banned elsewhere, so long as the procedure or treatments would be legal in New York.
Gender-affirming care, which encompasses a range of healthcare services designed to treat gender dysphoria, including mental health counseling, puberty blockers, hormones, and surgical interventions, is recognized as valid by most mainstream medical and mental health organizations.
But opponents of gender-affirming care often argue that the procedures or treatments involved are experimental and should not be undertaken without considering the longstanding side effects of such care.
As part of a larger conservative backlash against transgender rights, bans on gender-affirming care have been passed in 20 other states — primarily those in which Republicans control all levers of government.
Some of those laws seek to enlist out-of-state law enforcement authorities by having them arrest and detain doctors or parents who have fled states after assisting transgender youth in accessing gender-affirming treatments so that they may be prosecuted.
In response to those bans, more liberal-leaning states and cities have adopted “shield” laws or executive orders, like the one signed by Adams, that are intended to blunt the impact of the restrictive laws and ensure that people for whom gender-affirming treatments have been deemed “medically necessary” can continue to receive such care.
One of those jurisdictions is Maryland, where Democratic Gov. Wes Moore recently signed a nearly identical executive order establishing Maryland as a sanctuary for trans individuals seeking gender-affirming care.
“As states across the nation continue their onslaught of attacks on our LGBTQ+ neighbors, New York City is doing what we have always done — standing up for justice and against discrimination,” Adams said in a statement.
“This executive order reaffirms the fact that hate has no place in our city and that all people deserve the right to gender-affirming care and protection against prosecution for being who they are. To LGBTQ+ people across the nation feeling hurt, isolated, or threatened, we have a clear message for you: New York City has and will always be a welcoming home for you.”
Lawmakers in New York State’s Democratic-led legislature recently passed a measure to establish the state as a sanctuary for people seeking gender-affirming care who have fled from states with laws blocking such practices.
The bill now heads to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is expected to sign it into law.
“Right-wing lawmakers across the country are waging a war against the LGBTQ community, and their number one target is trans kids,” State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan), the sponsor of the statewide legislation, said in a statement praising the city’s actions. “New York City reaffirms its role as a beacon for the LGBTQ community.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for the Trump administration to enforce a policy mandating that U.S. passports list a traveler’s sex as assigned at birth, based on biological characteristics.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring that the U.S. government would recognize only two sexes, effectively erasing transgender identity. The order, which pledged to uphold "the biological reality of sex," directed the State Department to revise its passport policies to "accurately reflect the holder's sex."
Federal Judge Victoria Calvert has permanently blocked a portion of Georgia’s law banning prisoners from receiving gender-affirming care, ruling on Dec. 3 that the state’s blanket ban on hormone therapy violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in May and implemented in July, the law bars prisoners from receiving hormone therapy or other treatment for gender dysphoria -- even when a doctor deems it medically necessary. It prohibits the state from funding such care and blocks transgender inmates from paying for it themselves. Non-transgender prisoners, however, may still receive hormone therapy and other gender-affirming treatments so long as the care is not related to gender transition.
The Trump administration has proposed two federal rules that would restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender minors nationwide.
The proposed regulations, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), would bar federal Medicaid funds from covering transition-related care for transgender youth under 19 and threaten to strip federal funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming treatments to minors.
HHS officials told NBC News that CMS will begin the federal rule-making process with a 60-day public comment period, after which the rules could be finalized.
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