Mount Sinai Ends Gender-Affirming Care for Minors in Settlement with Trump DOJ, Sparking Protests

NEW YORK — More than 250 protesters gathered outside Mount Sinai Hospital on Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Tuesday evening, condemning the health system for what organizers called “bending the knee” to federal pressure. The rally came just days after Mount Sinai announced on September 4 that it had reached a settlement with the Department of Justice, agreeing to cease providing puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy, and gender-affirming surgeries to patients under 18 .

Under the agreement, Mount Sinai also committed to paying an undisclosed monetary penalty and allocating $2 million to what critics describe as a “detransition clinic” — a facility modeled on similar settlements the DOJ has demanded from Texas Children’s Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation .

The hospital system cited protecting patient privacy as the reason for settling, stating that the agreement was necessary “so that Mount Sinai will not be compelled to produce these highly sensitive patient records to the grand jury” .

“The Boot You Lick Today Will Stomp on You Tomorrow”

The protest, organized by the Gender Liberation Movement and ACT UP NY, featured emotional testimony from trans youth and their parents. Speakers included Taylor Brown, director of New York City’s newly established Mayor’s Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs; Qween Amor, a trans nurse and activist; and Sam, a 17-year-old trans man who is currently a patient at Mount Sinai .

“If 12-year-old me didn’t have the hope of one day being able to receive gender affirming care as a youth through Mount Sinai’s gender-affirming care program, I wouldn’t be standing here telling you my story today,” Sam said. “Gender-affirming care saves lives, it saved my life” .

Angelica Jadunandan, who moved her family from Florida to New York three years ago to protect her transgender daughter, delivered a scathing rebuke. “To Mount Sinai and all of the spineless cowards who have bent the knee to the clowns in charge, the boot you lick today will stomp on you tomorrow,” she said .

Raquel Willis, co-founder of the Gender Liberation Movement, said in a statement: “Mount Sinai had a choice, and it chose to abandon trans children and their families rather than hold the line against federal pressure. New York has some of the strongest protections for transgender people in the country; elected officials and institutions must enforce them. History will remember those that bowed to Trump’s fascism” .

A Nationwide Campaign

The Mount Sinai settlement is the culmination of more than a year of investigation by the Trump administration. In August 2026, the Department of Health and Human Services released a report titled “Wolves in White Coats,” accusing dozens of hospitals of improperly billing for gender-affirming care and referring them to the Office of Inspector General and the Justice Department for investigation. The report named Mount Sinai and Boston Children’s Hospital as among the top billing providers, citing data from the conservative medical advocacy group Do No Harm .

The administration has argued that hospitals were billing for gender-related treatments using unspecified endocrine diagnoses rather than gender dysphoria, resulting in improper payments from private and government-sponsored health plans .

Mount Sinai is not alone in capitulating. At least three major hospital systems in Massachusetts — Fenway Health, Outer Cape Health Services, and Baystate Health — have cancelled gender-affirming care appointments for patients under 19. NYU Langone discontinued its trans youth care program in February 2026 and has refused to resume it despite an order from New York Attorney General Letitia James .

A Legal Battle in the Courts

While Mount Sinai settled, other hospitals and legal advocates have fought back — and won. In June 2026, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from obtaining sensitive medical records from New York City hospitals that provided gender-affirming care to minors. The judge called the government’s demand “squarely within the class of intimate materials warranting the strongest constitutional protection” .

In August, the Justice Department withdrew its appeal seeking medical records from UPMC, a Pennsylvania hospital system. Judge Cathy Bissoon had previously denied the government’s request, writing that its rhetoric “reflects callous indifference, if not abject cruelty. There is more than a ‘whiff’ of ill-intent. Arguably, it is closer to a ‘stench’” .

Despite these legal victories, the administration’s tactics have effectively pressured many hospitals to stop providing care voluntarily, before courts could rule.

The Bottom Line

For families like Jadunandan’s, who moved across the country hoping for safety, the Mount Sinai settlement is a painful reminder that even in blue states, protection is not guaranteed. “New York has some of the strongest protections for transgender people in the country,” Willis said. “Elected officials and institutions must enforce them.”

Whether New York will do so — through litigation or legislation — remains an open question. The state’s Attorney General has not yet indicated whether she will take legal action against Mount Sinai for violating state anti-discrimination laws.

This article is based on reporting from LGBTQ Nation, Them, Mother Jones, CNN, and other sources as of September 13, 2026.