A Catholic nursing home in Westchester County is suing New York state, arguing that rules meant to protect transgender people in its care violate the religious freedom of the nurses who run it.
The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who operate Rosary Hill Home, filed the lawsuit against Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state health department this month. They're challenging a mandate that long-term care facilities in New York give patients access to facilities — like bathrooms and hospital beds — that align with their gender identities rather than their sexes assigned at birth.
Staff at these long-term care facilities are also required to undergo cultural competency training under legislation Hochul signed into law three years ago. The lawsuit refers to that training as indoctrination, and further objects to rules that staff members use patients preferred pronouns, or "accommodate patients’ desire for extramarital relations.”
“The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and Rosary Hill Home operate in accordance with the ethical and religious directives and the teachings of the Catholic Church,” states the suit by the nursing facility, which provides pro bono care to patients with cancer. “They cannot comply with the mandate without violating these sincerely held religious beliefs.”
Attorneys representing the Catholic nursing home did not confirm whether or not there are currently any trans patients in its care.
One member of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne’s legal team told Gothamist that the state mandates are “unconstitutional.”
“It is flatly unconstitutional for the state to grant religious exemption for the Christian Scientist Church’s long-term care facilities but not Catholic facilities,” said L. Martin Nussbaum. “It is unconstitutional for it to dictate how the Sisters speak and how they care for those on their final journey.”
The nursing facility is asking the court to exempt it from the state mandates, alleging they violate the home’s First and 14th Amendment rights.
The suit is the latest legal challenge to protections and services for LGBTQ+ residents in New York, which has some of the most progressive legislation in the country. Earlier this year, both NYU Langone Health and Mt. Sinai Hospital abruptly stopped providing gender-affirming care to minors following the Trump administration’s attempts to bar certain hospitals from receiving Medicaid and Medicare funding.
The state health department declined to comment on the suit, but said it follows state law, including providing "nursing home residents certain rights protecting against discrimination including, but not limited to, gender identity or expression.”
