New York City has been ground zero in the fight against Trump’s campaign to intimidate hospitals into closing gender-affirming care for trans youth. When Zohran Mamdani ran for mayor, he promised to retaliate Protest outside NYU LangonePledged $65 million for gender-affirming care, and vowed to use every lever of city power to protect trans New Yorkers from federal intimidation. Since taking office, those promises have gone largely unfulfilled: No enforcement action against hospitals closed your programsNo fines from the Human Rights Commission, despite complaints lasting more than a year, and no public accounting promised funding. So when Health Commissioner Dr. Alistair Martin announced Friday that the city would Open Your First Direct Care Clinic For transgender people, it seemed like the administration was finally doing something. It’s not like that. This morning, Erin in the Morning can confirm that Mayor Mamdani’s new clinic will refuse care to anyone under the age of 19 — adopting Trump’s exact age cutoff. anti-trans executive order.
“Transgender, gender-non-affirming, and non-binary New Yorkers deserve age-appropriate health care that is affirming, respectful, and mindful of all their needs. That’s why, for the first time later this summer, the NYC Department of Health will expand services at our Corona Sexual Health Clinic to provide gender-affirming hormone therapy to adults 19 and older. Like other clinic services, gender-affirming hormone therapy is available at no cost and Will be offered regardless of immigration status. We look forward to sharing more information as we launch the pilot,” an NYC Health spokesperson said in a statement to Erin In The Morning.
Confirmation comes after one city council budget hearing The conversation that first came to light in front of the clinic on Friday also revealed the logic of the administration. Council member Tiffany Caban asked Commissioner Alistair Martin—the city’s top public health official. Appointed by Mamdani in January—Whether the city will expand gender-affirming care. “This is the first time a public health department has taken this step,” Martin said in announcing the direct-care clinic. But when Cabán pushed back, saying that trans youth are under attack the most at the moment – noting that there are “almost no providers” left for youth in the entire city – Martin indicated that the clinic would not serve youth, citing the need to “strike a balance” between providing care and avoiding “criticisms from the federal government.” This morning, EITM can directly confirm that the age limit is 19 – which matches the Trump administration’s executive order limit, not the standard legal age of majority in New York. View exchange:
Commissioner Alistair Martin: “It’s incredibly important that we get the message out here and rely on comms and campaigns here, but it’s also important to reach out to people and provide them with the services they need. And we’re excited to say that very soon we’ll be able to provide gender-affirming care right here in our clinics. We have a clinic that’s opening in Corona that will offer gender-affirming hormone therapy for adults. This is the first time a public health department has taken that step, and we’re proud to be right here.” We will not stop, we will continue to move forward with this.
Council Member Tiffany Caban: “Can I ask a follow-up on that? Especially because it’s a really big deal, but we’re seeing this devastating reduction in services for youth and especially youth under the age of 13, 12 — like, there are almost no providers that provide care. And the one or two that do are obviously under attack from the federal government. So are you thinking about expanding that youth care? Because I’m talking to parents all the time. And they don’t know where to take their children.”
Commissioner Martin: “As you can appreciate, the balance we have to strike is – we are committed to this issue and want to make sure we provide services and resources for youth, but also make sure we don’t put ourselves under pressure from the federal government, which disrupts the rest of the care that we can give. And so there’s a lot to come to this, trying to strike the right balance. We look forward to working with you on this, but rest assured that we’re working on it.” And we’re trying to figure out how to do it.”
The news comes amid growing questions over Mamdani’s commitment to the promises that helped elect him. During his campaign, Mamdani organized a Trans Community Town Hall Where a pledge was made to invest $65 million in gender-affirming care. That pledge included “public hospitals and community clinics”, signaling to many that he might begin opening direct care clinics for youth being pulled out of hospitals. His platform also promised to hold hospitals that deny care to transgender youth accountable for their dedication to Trump and to “use every single tool at our disposal” to prevent them from complying with Trump’s illegal executive orders.
Those promises have largely vanished. Journalist Aviva Stahl Reported to Prism The $65 million in March was nowhere in the city’s initial budget, and by June, Advocates reviewing executive budget say money still isn’t there. The Human Rights Commission’s complaints against NYU Langone and Mount Sinai have remained open for more than a year without any enforcement action, and the agency declined to comment on them in response to questions from Erin in the Morning. And now, Mamdani’s own health commissioner is using the same argument that NYU Langone and Mount Sinai used to deny care to trans youth — fear of federal retribution.
This is not the case when Mamdani stood at a rally outside NYU Langone in March 2025 and announced: “We have seen NYU Langone comply with illegal executive orders out of fear of their so-called largest donors. Let us remind them that the city is also one of their largest donors. Let us remind them that they do not pay a dollar in property taxes, (and that) we are a city that is prepared to use every single tool we have to ensure compliance with city and state human rights laws.”
Mamdani is not powerless here. he has significant leverage health+hospital-The largest public municipal healthcare system in the country, with 11 hospitals, more than 70 clinics and eight existing Pride Health Centers. He controls the board. He may demand tomorrow to absorb trans young patients displaced from H+H, there is significant force behind those demands. he has human rights commissionWhich could impose fines of up to $250,000 per violation against hospitals that deny care in violation of the city law—Complaints against NYU Langone and Mount Sinai Open for more than a year without any action. He has a campaign pledge to coordinate AG James, who has already told NYU Langone No federal law requires them to stop. He also promised to give $65 million to this community. The tools are there. The legal right is there. Money was promised. What is clearly missing is the will to use it for the children who are most under attack.
It is important to note that in a recent appearance WNYC’s Brian Lehrer ShowThe parents of a trans child asked Mamdani directly what his administration was doing for their child. Mamdani cited a $15 million investment in gender-affirming care over two years. But there are virtually no public details about what the $15 million fund is for, which agency controls it, which patients it serves, or when it will go into effect. And two days after that interview, Commissioner Martin announced a new clinic that would be for adults only, using Trump’s executive order’s age limit of 19, and told the City Council that the city was afraid of federal “clawbacks” – raising the question of what, exactly, the $15 million would “unlock” for trans youth if the administration’s own policy for a new clinic is to avoid serving them. EITM has contacted multiple NYC agencies and press contacts for the mayor’s office and have not received a response on whether the adults-only clinic is intended to be part of the $15 million pledge — which, notably, is a fraction of the $65 million promoted by Mamdani, and which, as of today, does not serve youth.
Opening a city-run gender-affirming care clinic is a meaningful step in itself. But when clinics adopt the Trump administration’s age limits, when health commissioners cite the same federal fears over private hospitals that the mayor railed against, and when the promised $65 million remains unaccounted for while trans children in America’s largest city are told there are almost no places left for them to go, the move is as likely to be seen as a betrayal as it is a meaningful progress on their promises.
<a href=