NYC plans $8.9m to plug gap in trans youth care after hospital shutdowns
(Photo by Leonardo Munoz / AFP) (Photo by LEONARDO MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene intends to direct $8.9 million to healthcare nonprofits so they can deliver gender-affirming care for patients under 18, following several major hospital systems ending their trans youth programmes.
A city record posted online on 6 October sets out the proposed plan, including a negotiated acquisition with Callen-Lorde Community Health Center and the Nonprofit Organization for Philanthropic Initiatives (NOPI).
Under the proposal, the funding would go to vendors providing services including puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to trans patients under the age of 18, under a three-year contract. The contract is slated to begin on 1 February 2027.
Callen-Lorde is a prominent community health centre in New York with a long-standing reputation for LGBTQ+ inclusive care. In a city where municipal health funding can shape what services are realistically available across networks of clinics and nonprofits, the proposed contract could be significant for families trying to access care.
Why is NYC stepping in after hospitals ended trans youth programmes?
The plan follows the closure of several transgender youth health programmes in New York City over the last year, which has reduced access to care for some trans young people.
Mount Sinai, NYU Langone Health and New York Presbyterian have ended programmes serving trans youth over the last year and reached settlements with the Trump administration.
Nationally, the pressure has intensified since Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025 and signed an executive order threatening federal funding for medical institutions providing gender-affirming care for minors. The order ended up being struck down, but the US Department of Justice later issued 20 subpoenas to hospitals across the country for providing gender-affirming care.
Under a settlement Mount Sinai reached with the Trump administration in late August, the hospital system committed $2 million towards setting up a detransition fund. Actor Elliot Page, who last week criticised what he described as a “coordinated assault on health care”, described detransition in a public service announcement for the Gender Liberation Movement as the “often coercive ending of gender transition, which uses the same logic as conversion therapy.”
What does the NYC funding plan cover and when does it start?
The city record also sets out a timeline for organisations that believe they are eligible to deliver the services.
Eligible vendors can submit an expression of interest by email by 2 p.m. EST on 16 October to Tamala Watson at [email protected], according to the city record.
Organisers from the Gender Liberation Movement and ACT UP have also been staging care-ins and demonstrations outside major hospital systems in response to the shuttering of trans youth programmes.
