NYU Students Protest Trump’s Executive Order Prohibiting Gender-Affirming Surgeries for Minors

HOST, ZHUOYA MA: One of many executive orders signed by the president prohibits gender-affirming surgeries for anyone under the age of 19. NYU Langone Health is one of several major hospitals that have cancelled surgeries as a result. If not, they fear losing millions in federal funding. This morning NYU students staged a walkout to protest the hospital’s decision. Dana Binfet reports from Greenwich Village.

NARRATOR, DANA BINFET: It’s a rainy Thursday morning in Washington Square Park but the wet weather hasn’t stopped NYU students from taking over Garibaldi Square, many are skipping their 9am classes. Miles Monga is majoring in Cinema Studies at NYU.  He’s standing near some friends holding up a cardboard sign that reads “you know when theater students miss class it’s bad”

MILES MONGA: Here at NYU, we have many community members who are trans, many community members who are immigrants and we can't stand for this. We got to protest it.

BINFET: One of the things Monga and other protestors here this morning are demanding is for the university administration to release a statement asking the hospital to reverse its decision to end gender -affirming care for transgender youth.

JJ BRISCOE: I mean, I think it’s pretty scary. I mean there's so many words I could use disturbing, disheartening.

BINFET: JJ Briscoe is standing nearby handing out fliers. He’s a master’s student in public service, and also a member of Get Free, one of the five organizations that put on today’s protest. NYU Langone has been offering gender-affirming care since 2020, and Briscoe is concerned that the country is moving backwards.

BRISCO: To see not only progress that's been made in the past few decades, but progress that's been made since the civil rights generation just be rolled back. Just seeing all of this work done from generations before us, they fought and died for these rights and to watch that all just slip their fingers. It’s just pretty terrifying because if anything we should be headed in the other direction. 

BINFET: NYU Langone is under pressure from many sides, Trump’s executive order threatens to withhold federal funding to hospitals like it, which continue to provide gender-affirming care. NYU receives millions in federal grants. One small example, $2 million in 2023 for half a dozen ambulances. Or a $24 million grant a few years earlier to advance COVID vaccinations and education. Trump’s threat has put hospitals in a tough position as they weigh the cost to other patients who rely on these programs for care.

BINFET: Near the front of the crowd Renee Redding Jones is holding a sign.

RENEE REDDING JONES: I’m here to support students and their right to be who they are in all the spaces that they occupy

BINFET: Are you a part of the NYU community?

JONES: I am, I’m a teacher

BINFET: Redding Jones is a film professor at NYU, our conversation was interrupted as the protesters began to march towards a university building outside the park. We met up again outside the building.

JONES: We're at a really difficult time in the nation and I'm tired of sitting at home and yelling at the tv. 

BINFET: Can I ask what you hope the outcome is from this today?

JONES: Well, you know, I hope that the administration listens to the students, that there is an avenue for discussion. Uh nothing beats open and open communication. So I hope they hear the students um allow them to express their concerns. And when they're changing policies and what have you invite them to the table, you know, they are the school.

BINFET: When asked to comment on today’s protest, a spokesman for NYU Langone Health declined. Dana Binfet, Columbia Radio News.