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For Immediate Release: April 1, 2025
Contact: press@socialists.nyc, (917) 261-5939

Hundreds Rally to Protect Trans Kids;
Deliver Thousands of Letters to NYU Langone

NEW YORK, NY —March 31 at 6:30pm ET—Over five hundred protesters braved the rain in Madison Square Park on International Trans Day of Visibility. While the day’s earlier protest promised to defend trans rights broadly, the focus of the evening rally was pressuring New York hospitals to provide gender-affirming care for trans patients 18 and under. The rally, organized by the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) in coalition with Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ), Black Trans Liberation Kitchen, and NYC Youth 4 Trans Rights, concluded with NY State Senator Kristen Gonzalez leading the crowd to NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital to deliver a portion of the over 225,000 signed letters demanding that the hospital resume care. 

“[We] stand with our trans siblings as families, as neighbors, as friends. We are here to say we see you, we stand with you, and we will fight with you,” opened Senator Gonzalez, whose district includes NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital. Following earlier attempts by patients to make contact, Senator Gonzalez  led the demonstration to the facility, where staff and security refused to accept the letter delivery. Addressing the crowd, she promised that the fight would continue, “We will be back.”

Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani criticized NYU Langone for prioritizing donor interests over trans rights: “We have seen NYU Langone comply with illegal executive orders out of a fear of their so-called biggest donors. Let us remind them that the city is also one of their biggest donors. Let us remind them that they do not pay a dollar in property tax [and that] we are a city that is ready to use every single tool to assure compliance with city and state human rights laws.”

State Senator Jabari Brisport reinforced the message: “To those hospitals, to NYU Langone, to NewYork–Presbyterian, to Mount Sinai, it is our duty to fight facism at every inch—do not obey in advance.”

In addition to NY Senators Gonzalez and Brisport, and Assembly Member and mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, speakers included Black Trans Liberation Kitchen founder Qween Jean, activist and advocate Cynthia Nixon, and NYC Council Member Alexa Avilés, as well as representatives from NYC-DSA. The event also featured Lorelei Crean, from NYC Youth 4 Trans Rights, a young patient directly impacted by the cancellation of care and Trump’s executive orders.

“It’s hard to focus on a test when you know you no longer legally exist,” they said, recalling the executive orders from President Trump. “It seems stupid for me to be complaining about a bad grade on a math test, but I’m a child. That should be my biggest concern in life. Not the fact that I’m losing my fundamental human rights.”

In response, CM Alexa Avilés’s voice broke, “The fact that you have to live like that breaks my heart. But we’re going to fight for you and we stand with you and we love you and we see you.”

“We told them we would be back, and here we are,” said Nixon, a returning speaker from NYC-DSA’s February 3 rally, “NYU and these other hospitals around the city, who should know better and who should be better, are not going to take trans youth rights away.”

On January 28, President Trump signed an executive order declaring that the U.S. would not “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support” gender transition for people under 19. By February 1, the New York Times reported that NYU Langone Health had cancelled previously scheduled care—despite the fact that gender-affirming care is backed by decades of research and there remains strong consensus for its use as treatment for gender dysphoria among major U.S. medical organizations. By February 3, Attorney General Letitia James sent a letter to the hospitals reminding them of their “obligations to comply with New York State laws,” which prohibit “discrimination against individuals based on their membership in a protected class,” including trans youth. Despite this letter and a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the executive order, NYU Langone Health, Mount Sinai Health System, and NewYork-Presbyterian have not fully restored care. 

Since the filing of the anti-trans executive order, the NYC-DSA has mobilized:

  • A February 3 rally at NYU Langone Health
  • 225,000 letters sent to the leadership of hospitals that have revoked care 
  • A February 18 mass call for Trans Rights
  • More than 150 canvassers across New York City. 

The next phase of their work will demand investigations, subpoenas, and public hearings on hospitals that continue to deny care to trans youth.

Photos available here by Karya Schanilec and here by Diego Pedraza, video available upon request: Photos, video of rally attendees in Madison Sq. Park; speakers; individual signs

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ABOUT NYC-DSA:  New York City Democratic Socialists of America is the NYC local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the United States with over 85,000 members. NYC-DSA is run by its 7,500+ members who are working together to build a New York that works for the working class in the five boroughs.