Dozens of New York groups call on state to create $50 million contingency fund for gender-affirming care

Dozens of groups and individuals across New York State are calling on state leaders to allocate extra funding for gender-affirming care in light of the Trump administration's widespread cuts and attacks on transgender individuals. The coalition of New Yorkers delivered a letter on March 17 to Gov. Kathy Hochul, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie calling for a $50 million contingency fund to cover the costs of gender-affirming care by subsidizing or even replacing the federal government's share of Medicaid funding in the 2026 budget. "We were profoundly disappointed that this funding was not included in the executive budget or the one-house budget proposals," stated the letter, which was signed by New York City-based groups such as Ali Forney Center, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, and GMHC; hospital systems like Bassett Healthcare Network and Montefiore Nyack Hospital, Highland Medical; and LGBTQ centers, including the LGBT Center in Manhattan and the Rockland County Pride Center. The letter comes less than two months after President Donald Trump issued an executive order that called to bar federal funding for gender-affirming care for individuals under the age of 19, prompting several hospitals in New York City and other areas to pull back on gender-affirming care for youth and some adults. Federal courts have hobbled that order, but the Trump administration has continued to target transgender individuals. Advocates made their voices heard in Albany on Feb. 25, when more than 100 people met with elected officials to call on them to support the $50 million fund and improve shield laws to protect patients and providers. "The groups who are working to undermine medically necessary health care for transgender people are the same groups attacking reproductive freedom," the letter noted. "We must be united in our defense of both transgender healthcare and reproductive healthcare. In fact, the contingency fund can be modeled after the mechanisms created to support reproductive health care in the wake of the Dobbs decision and during the previous Trump administration, respectively, i.e. Reproductive Freedom & Equity Fund and the Title X Contingency Funding." In February, three New York City-based LGBTQ political clubs sent a letter to Hochul and top lawmakers calling on them to boost funding and other forms of support for transgender New Yorkers and individuals living with HIV/AIDS. When Gay City News reached out to Hochul's office for this story, a spokesperson for the governor provided the same statement the governor provided to Gay City News in response to the February letter from LGBTQ political clubs. "New York State's mission remains the same," the spokesperson said. "Governor Hochul will continue to work with the New York State Department of Health to promote the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers." The letter to elected leaders stressed that New York State must not abandon its "legacy of protecting the transgender community." "New York State has a responsibility to protect transgender people and their access to medically necessary healthcare," the letter concluded. "We strongly urge you to include the $50m contingency fund in the final FY26 budget.