The New York State Department of Health says it remains committed to enforcing protections for transgender residents in long-term care facilities after the Trump administration joined a lawsuit filed by a Catholic nursing home in Westchester County.
The dispute centers on a New York law requiring long-term care facilities to protect residents from discrimination based on gender identity or expression and to accommodate residents consistent with their gender identity.
The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who operate Rosary Hill Home, sued Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state health department earlier this year, arguing the law violates the nuns' religious freedom.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it intends to intervene in the lawsuit in support of the sisters' claims.
“States should take notice that they cannot require Americans to abandon their religious beliefs in the name of woke gender ideology,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “For more than a century, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne have provided free palliative care to indigent cancer patients in their last days. New York’s law would force these religious women to choose between their faith and their license if they wish to continue serving the dying.”
A spokesperson for the state health department said Tuesday the agency stands by the law.
"While the Department does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation, the NYS Department of Health is committed to following state law, which provides nursing home residents certain rights protecting against discrimination including, but not limited to, gender identity or expression," Department of Health spokesperson John Emery said in a statement.
The case is the latest legal fight involving transgender rights in New York.
Earlier this year, a group of transgender New Yorkers and their families sued several health care institutions, alleging the hospitals shared information about minors who received gender-affirming care with the Trump administration. The hospitals faced criticism from LGBTQ advocates and some NYC Pride organizers after reports that they complied with federal requests for information.
Attorneys representing the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne did not immediately respond to Gothamist's request for comment.
