Open Letter to NYC Pride: Stand with Trans Youth
Dear NYC Pride Board of Directors and Leadership,
We write as LGBTQ+ organizations, advocates, community leaders, allies, and New Yorkers who believe that Pride must remain rooted in solidarity with those most under attack. Across the country, transgender youth and their families are facing an unprecedented assault on their rights, dignity, and access to healthcare. While many institutions have courageously defended trans youth and continued providing medically necessary care despite political pressure, several New York City hospital systems, including NYU Langone, Mt. Sinai, and New York Presbyterian, have instead chosen to preemptively end gender-affirming care for young people, capitulating to the attacks by the Trump Administration. Additionally, NYU Langone and Mt Sinai are at least two of the hospitals that received a federal subpoena to turn over private medical records of trans youth who received care from 2020-2026.
As Attorney General Letitia James has shared, the decision to end care for trans youth goes against New York State Law and puts trans youth at risk. These decisions have also had devastating consequences. Families have been forced to seek care elsewhere, endure significant disruptions to treatment, and confront uncertainty about their children's futures. At a moment when trans youth need institutions to stand firm, these hospitals chose cowardice over courage.
We call on NYC Pride to prohibit any hospital system that has ended, restricted, or suspended gender-affirming care for transgender youth from marching in the 2026 NYC Pride March and festival, and any future prides, unless and until they restore that care and publicly commit to protecting trans youth and their families. While we understand that not everyone who marches with the hospitals supports these decisions, as institutions, they must be held accountable. New York Pride is uniquely positioned to help lead this endeavor.
Institutions cannot claim solidarity with LGBTQ+ communities one day a year while abandoning trans youth when political pressure mounts. We’re in a historical moment where, as a community, we must be unequivocal about our support for the next generations. Trans youth are not expendable or political pawns. They deserve access to healthcare that allows them to have a future worth living.
NYC Pride has an opportunity to take a stand with trans youth and their families and send a message to the Trump administration that the attacks will not stand in New York. We urge you to demonstrate that the values of Pride are more than symbolic by standing unequivocally with transgender youth and the families fighting for their right to receive care.
We welcome the opportunity to meet with NYC Pride leadership to discuss this and the broader responsibility all institutions have to defend transgender people during this critical moment.
In solidarity,
