NYC mayor signs order protecting gender-affirming health care

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) signed an executive order Monday that protects gender-affirming health care, as many GOP-led states are restricting or banning such care for transgender individuals.

Executive Order 32 will prevent the use of city resources to detain any individual who is providing or receiving gender-affirming health care services in the city.

The order will also prevent city officials from using resources “to cooperate with any prosecution or investigation by another state of an individual for providing or receiving gender-affirming care.”

“As states across the nation continue their onslaught of attacks on our LGBTQ+ neighbors, New York City is doing what we have always done — standing up for justice and against discrimination,” Adams said in a statement.

“This executive order reaffirms the fact that hate has no place in our city and that all people deserve the right to gender-affirming care and protection against prosecution for being who they are. To LGBTQ+ people across the nation feeling hurt, isolated, or threatened, we have a clear message for you: New York City has and will always be a welcoming home for you.”

At least 20 states have passed laws that restrict the ability for minors to get gender-affirming care, while 34 states have introduced legislation that restricts or prohibits access to gender-affirming services for individuals who are 18 years or older, per a news release from Adams’s office.

That’s despite more than two dozen major medical associations, including the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, concluding that gender-affirming care is safe, effective, beneficial and medically necessary, according to ABC News.

“New York City has long been at the forefront of the movement for LGBTQ+ equality, and today’s announcement reaffirms our unwavering commitment to building a safe and inclusive city for all,” Sideya Sherman, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Equity, said in a statement.