Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is shelling out $15 million in an effort to broaden transgender services for city residents, Them first reported Friday.
The Mamdani administration’s new effort will include three initiatives designed to bolster access to “gender-affirming” care in New York City: a “direct” transgender service access fund, a call and text line to aid transitioners and additional funds for LGBTQ “medical care,” according to online LGBTQ magazine Them.
Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
“Every New Yorker should have the freedom to live as themselves and access the healthcare they need,” Mamdani told Them. “As the federal government attacks transgender people and attempts to intimidate patients, families and providers, New York City is stepping up.”
“We will protect care, support the providers delivering it and make clear that trans New Yorkers belong in this city. Healthcare is a human right, and we will do everything in our power to defend it,” he added.
The move represents “a proactive $15 million investment at a time of growing uncertainty and escalating attacks from the federal government,” according to a news release from the mayor’s office.
“This is the best news that we’ve heard all Pride Month,” New York City Council Member Justin E. Sanchez, Co-Chair of the Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus, told Them. “As fun the parades, balls, and celebrations have been, the work we do and the progress we continue to make in the face of adversity is what Pride is all about. I’d like to thank Mayor Zohran Mamdani for his understanding of the challenges that transgender people face every day, working with our Caucus, and delivering on his promise to protect them.”
The announcement comes amid the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown on gender ideology nationwide.
Sixty percent of transgender adults in the U.S. notably said they had poor mental health during at least one day over the period of a month compared with 37% of cisgender adults, according to an August 2021 Center for American Progress fact sheet citing 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data.
New York City recently opposed federal grand jury subpoenas seeking the medical records of transgender patients earlier in June, and a federal judge later issued an injunction halting the Justice Department from obtaining those records, Fox News reported on Friday.
In March, Mamdani issued an executive order which created a new “Mayor’s Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs” to “oversee and coordinate implementation of initiatives across city agencies that serve LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers.”
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