Mayor Eric Adams signs executive order protecting gender-affirming care in New York City

This Pride Month, as states across the country move to restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender and non-binary Americans, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has signed an Executive Order that protects healthcare access for trans people.

“I just signed Executive Order 32 to protect access to gender-affirming health care in New York City,” Adams tweeted Monday.

“To our LGBTQ+ community 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,” the mayor added.

Executive Order 32 both protects access to gender-affirming care and prohibits city resources from being used to persecute those who seek it. Gender-affirming care encompasses a range of healthcare options for trans and non-binary people, including puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy, and gender-affirming surgeries.

The executive order also provides protections for individuals seeking or providing gender-affirming care while living in a state that bars or restricts access. Those individuals will now be granted “protection and privacy in New York City to either receive or provide care that is medically needed,” Mayor Adams said in a statement about the order.

“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,” Adams said.

At least 20 states have banned gender-affirming care for transgender youth, and 34 states have introduced legislation that would more broadly either ban or restrict access to gender-affirming care, the order notes. 

Earlier this month, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) declared a nationwide state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people for the first time in the organization’s more than 40-year history, citing “an unprecedented and dangerous spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislative assaults sweeping state houses this year.” 

In the last year, more than 525 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in 41 U.S. states, creating what the HRC has called an  “increasingly hostile and dangerous” environment for LGBTQ+ people. Of the proposed bills, 220 specifically targeted transgender Americans.

Both the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have spoken out against what the AMA calls “governmental intrusion into the practice of medicine that is detrimental to the health of transgender and gender-diverse children and adults.”

“The freedom to live as your authentic self will always be protected in New York City,” New York City Commission on Human Rights Commissioner and Chair Annabel Palma said Monday. “As transgender and non-binary communities continue to be targeted across the nation, we are proud that New York City protects transgender and non-binary individuals from discrimination.”