New York City is opening its first city-run gender-affirming care clinic, a landmark move in the fight to protect trans healthcare during a hostile federal climate. But the clinic will only serve adults 19 and older, effectively excluding the young people most vulnerable to care disruptions.

A Clinic with Limits

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced Friday that it will launch a gender-affirming hormone therapy clinic at the Corona Sexual Health Clinic in Queens, marking what officials called "one of the first times a public health department has ever taken that step." Health Commissioner Alister Martin described the initiative as a direct response to nationwide rollbacks, offering no-cost to low-cost care regardless of immigration status when it opens later this summer.

But during the city council budget hearing where Martin unveiled the plan, he revealed the clinic would not serve anyone under 19. When Councilmember Tiffany Caban pressed him on trans youth care, which has become increasingly scarce in the city after major hospitals including NYU Langone and Mount Sinai closed their pediatric programs, Martin explained the restriction was designed to avoid "clawbacks from the federal government, which disrupt the rest of the care that we can give."

Leaving Young People Behind

The 19-year threshold mirrors the Trump administration's own executive order cutoff, not New York's legal age of adulthood. It's a choice that deepens an already dire shortage: nearly all gender-affirming providers for trans youth have shuttered or restricted services over fears of federal retaliation. Caban told the council that parents across the city are struggling to find any care for their children. Minors and young adults under 19 represent the group most targeted by the Trump administration, which has subpoenaed hospitals for trans youth medical records and threatened legal and financial consequences for providers.

Promises and Reality

Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned on a strong pro-trans platform, pledging 65 million dollars for gender-affirming care and vowing to use city power to protect New Yorkers from federal intimidation. So far, enforcement actions against hospitals have not materialized, nor have promised funds materialized in public accounting. The adult-only clinic represents a public health department taking direct action, a genuinely rare step. But for the thousands of trans youth in New York, it offers no relief.

Sources: Erin in the Morning, them., The Advocate

Cover photo: RDNE Stock project / Pexels

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