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NYC parents say Mount Sinai has cut off services for trans kids ahead of federal rule
By
Caroline Lewis
and
Giulia Heyward
Published Feb 21, 2026
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Deb Cohn-Orbach via Getty Images
By
Caroline Lewis
and
Giulia Heyward
Published Feb 21, 2026
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Dawn Gabriel says she’d been worried for months that Mount Sinai Health System would stop providing testosterone to her trans son under pressure from the Trump administration. She finally got the call confirming her fears last month.
Gabriel said she and her husband were told that “ not only were they no longer taking new [pediatric] patients, but they could not treat current patients,” either. Her 16-year-old son was referred to a private clinic instead.
Another parent, who requested that only her first name Allyssa be used to protect her family’s privacy, confirmed she had a similar experience. And a group that advocates for parents of trans youth says multiple New York City families have reported that Mount Sinai stopped gender-affirming care for their children last month, but they are afraid to speak out publicly.
Hospitals received a directive from the state this week forbidding them from discriminating against any patient based on gender or sexual identity.
Mount Sinai has declined to answer multiple questions about whether it is still providing treatment for gender dysphoria to minors, and declined to comment Saturday when asked about Gabriel’s and other parents’ claims.
Reports the hospital is cutting services for trans youth come amid mounting concerns about the future of trans health care in New York and across the country. The Trump administration has been threatening hospital funding since last year and is weighing a policy change that would slash federal money for hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to minors. That rule has yet to be finalized.
LGBTQ advocates and city and state elected officials railed against NYU Langone earlier this week for preemptively complying with Trump’s proposed rule change by ending its Transgender Youth Health Program. NYU Langone attributed the decision to the departure of the program’s medical director and the “current regulatory environment.”
Gabriel said her son has been adamant that he was a boy since he was 3 and started seeing therapists about his gender dysphoria in middle school, when the family was still living in Boston. Gabriel said her son started on testosterone at Mount Sinai at 14, shortly after the family moved to New York City.
“It’s not like we showed up one day and they threw testosterone into our hands,” Gabriel said. “We had almost a decade of knowing what his gender was.”
Gabriel said the backlash against trans people in recent years “has been horrifying and terrifying for us,” but said she previously felt that “ New York is one of those places where we'll be safe.”
Now, she said, she’s not so sure — and is even considering moving her family to Canada.
“ I don't feel so safe right now,” she said.
Allyssa, the other New York City mom who spoke to Gothamist, said she got a similar call in mid-January informing her that her 17-year-old trans son would have to move up his next appointment because Mount Sinai was ending its pediatric gender-affirming care program on Jan. 23. She said her son was also referred to a private clinic.
The Trump administration in December proposed a new rule that would cut off Medicare and Medicaid funding to hospitals that offer “sex-rejecting” services to minors, arguing that interventions such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy cause irreparable harm to children. Another proposed rule would block Medicaid from covering those services.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Wednesday the agency is still reviewing public comments on the proposals and did not offer a timeline for finalizing them.
State and local elected officials sent a letter to NYU Langone on Friday denouncing the move to end its Transgender Youth Health Program.
“Your decision is not only harmful to New York families, it may be in violation of New York City and New York State Human Rights Laws,” the letter cautioned.
State health officials sent a letter to hospitals on Wednesday reminding them that New York law prohibits health care providers from discriminating against patients based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The letter also emphasized that President Donald Trump’s previous attempt to penalize hospitals for offering gender-affirming care to young people was blocked in court.
Tagged
Health and Science
mount sinai
Caroline Lewis
Caroline Lewis is on the health care beat for WNYC and Gothamist. She has covered COVID, a nurses' strike, the overdose crisis and New York’s marijuana legalization effort, and spent a year investigating patients' medical bills. She always wants to hear about how everyday New Yorkers experience the health system. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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