NYU Langone ending Transgender Youth Health Program
BY: Zanger, Jenna DeAngeli
Updated on: February 18, 2026
NYU Langone announced Tuesday it is discontinuing its Transgender Youth Health Program, leaving families frustrated and advocates fighting back.
There's outrage in New York City's LGBTQ+ community over the decision to end that treatment at NYU Langone.
The move comes in the wake of President Trump's Jan. 2025 executive order banning gender-affirming health care, and a December Trump administration proposal to withdraw federal funds from hospitals providing gender transition treatments to young people.
"So-called gender affirming care has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people. This is not medicine. It is malpractice," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in December.
"Given the recent departure of our medical director, coupled with the current regulatory environment, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our Transgender Youth Health Program. We are committed to helping patients in our care manage this change. This does not impact our pediatric mental health care programs, which will continue," NYU Langone said in a statement.
"President Trump pledged to restore common sense and put a stop to unscientific and irreversible child mutilation procedures. The Trump administration is delivering," a spokesperson for the White House said. "Trans youth exist"
NYU Langone had reportedly begun cancelling some appointments shortly after the executive order was signed, so the shutdown of the entire program more than a year later may not come as a complete surprise. It is drawing the ire however of a number of advocacy organizations.
"What I know is that trans youth exist. I once was a trans youth myself. This care is supported by nearly every major medical association in the country," said Elisa Crespo of the Stonewall Community Foundation. "American families are really hurting right now. I'm being contacted by parents of trans youth who are devastated and don't know where to turn."
Crespo said it now falls to the city and state to help fill in the gaps in care.
"It's a shame our government is getting in the way of decisions that should be made between families, young people, and their doctors. It's a shame they are perpetuating such a bias and harmful narrative about gender affirming care," Crespo added.
Advocates are calling on NYU Langone to reinstate the program, while hoping the city and state will help fill gaps in care.
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