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BY JAY W. WALKER | “When Trans youth are under attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight back!” was the recurring chant at a rally on East 34th Street, across from the Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone on the afternoon of Sunday, March 1, 2026/
Organized by Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn (LID), the protest was called in response to a cascade of capitulations by multiple NYC healthcare corporations to President Donald J. Trump’s threat to withhold Medicaid payments to any hospital that offers Gender-Affirming Care (GAC) to Trans youth younger than 19.
LID’s newly elected Board President Stephanie Fox, herself a Trans woman, emceed the gathering, which focused on NYU Langone’s recent closure of its Transgender Youth Health Program. Remarks from Fox and many of the featured speakers also ncluded condemnations of Northwell Health and Mount Sinai, which have abruptly stopped providing GAC to current patients.
“Under New York State law and City law, discrimination on the basis of sex and gender is illegal,” noted Fox, adding, “yet these institutions are abandoning that legal and moral duty, complying in advance to a hostile Trump agenda.”
In addition to Ms. Fox, speakers from NYC’s Trans communities included Yanery Cruz of New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG); LID Executive Vice President Derek Gaskill; and Alaina Daniels, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Trans formative Schools, which operates a free afterschool program designed to “address the unmet needs of trans, queer, nonbinary, and gender expansive middle school students.”
Also present as speakers were 18-year-old high school senior Lorelei Crean–a nonbinary activist who over the past year has become the face of NYC Trans youth by sharing their story of multiple denials of care due to their age–told the assembled, “All of this is due to cowardice to the Trump administration, under threat of losing federal funding and Medicaid funding…In New York City, Mount Sinai has been denying Gender-Affirming Care to Trans youth, myself included. I began attempting to get an appointment at the start of 2025, when I was still 17 years old…This continued for months and months with Mount Sinai giving us the run arround.”
Democratic Socialists of America’s Chelsea Manning also addressed the crowd. (Manning publicly announced her transition the day after her sentencing in the Wikileaks/Cablegate whistle-blowing case against her–and, while imprisoned, successfully sued to be allowed to commence hormone therapy).
After remarks from longtime gay political activist Allen Roskoff of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club (which co-sponsored the event), numerous elected officials addressed the gathering, including NYS Senators Erik Bottcher and Kristen Gonzalez; NYS Assemblymembers Keith Powers, Micah Lasher, Alex Bores, Tony Simone, and Emily Gallagher; NYC Council Member Harvey Epstein; NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams; and former NYC Comptroller Brad Lander.
Said Gonzalez, “Their decision–both NYU Langone and Mount Sinai–to discontinue Gender-Affirming Care is breaking New York State law! And it is remarkable to me, as an elected official, that I have to spend my time reminding institutions that they have an obligation to follow the law, simply because they would rather capitulate to a fascist Trump administration than follow it.”
Assemblymemer Simone gave backwards-sliding medical providers a glimpse of things to come, by delivering “a message for NYU Langone and Mount Sinai and these cowards who would bow to this fake king: We’ll remember this when you come [to Albany] begging for money. We’ll remember this.”
Citing the leadership of Stephanie Fox in Climate Justice work and Sam Stanton in Immigrant Justice work, former NYC Comptroller Brad Lander said Trans New Yorkers “are leading the way toward
a more just, a more compassionate, a more inclusive, a more diverse New York City,” and invoked a mantra spoken by Brazilian activists in the wake of Jair Bolsonaro’s 2018 victory: “Ninguém solta a mão de ninguém–no one let go of anyone’s hand.”
In closing remarks, Trans Rabbi Abby Stein noted, “When Trans youth are attacked…it is an attack on each and every one of us! They simply identify Trans youth as the most vulnerable group that they can literally try to wipe out of existence!”
Ms. Fox then returned to share Gov. Kathy Hochul’s number in Albany, encouraging attendees to call her and demand that the state budget being negotiated this spring include funding that will allow public hospitals and other healthcare services to compensate for cancellations of care, particularly for low-income New Yorkers who rely on Medicaid.
NOTE: Click Here to read a February 20, 2026 letter from members of the NYS Senate urging Robert L. Grossman (Dean and CEO, NYU Langone Health) to reconsider the decision to discontinue the Transgender Youth Health Program. Also, in a February 25 letter to NYU Langone, the office of NYS Attorney General Letitia James ordered the resumption of gender-affirming care for minors.
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Below, find more photos from the event and additional words from others who spoke.
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