Hundreds of clinicians across New York are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to ensure patients retain access to gender-affirming care, even as the Trump administration pushes to roll back such treatment nationwide.
In a letter obtained by Gothamist, 246 health care professionals urge the governor to sign a bill that passed the state Legislature last month but remains on her desk. The bill would strengthen legal protections for people who receive or provide gender-affirming care in New York.
The legislation, known as the Enhanced Shield Law, would expand New York’s existing protections by blocking out-of-state subpoenas, empowering the attorney general to defend providers and shielding supportive parents from prosecution elsewhere.
The measure is one of several gender-affirming care bills that passed the state Legislature this year but that Hochul has not yet signed, as Gothamist previously reported. Her office said she would review the legislation, but did not say when a decision would come.
Since President Donald Trump’s return to office in January, he and his administration have taken several steps to restrict access to treatments like hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender-affirming surgery. That includes an executive order referring to some procedures as “mutilation,” along with efforts to slash funding and halt federal research into such care.
The U.S. Department of Justice earlier this month subpoenaed 20 health care providers that offer gender-affirming services to minors. The state health department could not confirm to Gothamist whether any of them are based in New York, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The clinicians referenced these recent developments in their letter, warning that threats to care are “escalating in real time.”
“While we remain deeply grateful for the protections New York state has already enacted, we implore you to act without further delay,” the letter reads.
Dr. Rachel Golden, a Manhattan-based clinical psychologist and one of the signatories, said patients should be able to make decisions about gender-affirming care without federal interference.
“It’s terrifying,” Golden said. “It’s scary as a provider to see my patients feeling really scared, and it’s terrifying to see how this has already impacted people’s mental health and wellbeing.”
State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Manhattan Democrat who co-sponsored the bill, said it passed the Assembly on June 16 and should already be law.
“I don’t know what the holdup is,” he said. “I give the governor some grace because we in the Legislature have passed thousands of bills that she and her team have to review, but I hope this letter gets their attention.”
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