New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration will open the city’s first direct-care clinic for transgender people later this summer at the Corona Sexual Health Clinic, with gender-affirming hormone therapy limited to adults 19 years of age and older. Dr. Alister Martin, the city’s health commissioner, announced the plan at a City Council budget hearing on Friday.
The clinic will offer care at no to low cost regardless of immigration status, according to a city health spokesperson. For New Yorkers who need that service, the city is putting it at a public clinic rather than routing patients through a separate network.
Corona Sexual Health Clinic
Martin told the council that the administration was trying to balance access with federal pressure. “It’s incredibly important that we get the messaging right here and that we lean in on the comms and the campaign here, but it’s also important to deliver for people and to provide the services they need,” he said.
He added, “We have a clinic that will be opening up in Corona which will offer gender-affirming hormone therapy for adults.” He also said, “It’s like one of the first times a public health department has ever taken that step, and we’re proud to not just stop there.”
Tiffany Cabán Hearing
Cabán questioned whether the city would expand gender-affirming care during the hearing. Martin’s answer came as the administration prepared to use the Corona clinic as its first direct-care site for transgender patients, after Mamdani appointed him in January as the city’s top public health official.
The age cutoff means the clinic will deny care to anyone under 19. That matches the Trump administration’s executive order threshold, even as the city says transgender, gender-nonconfirming, and nonbinary New Yorkers deserve “age-appropriate health care that is affirming, respectful, and considerate of all their needs.”
Federal Pressure
The city has also been a focal point in the fight over Trump’s push to pressure hospitals to drop gender-affirming care for trans youth. Hospitals had shuttered their programs, and the city had not taken enforcement action or issued fines despite complaints open for over a year.
That leaves the new clinic aimed at adults, while youth providers across the city remain scarce. The administration has already tied the plan to the $65 million Mamdani pledged for gender-affirming care, and the practical question for families now is whether they will be steered toward other providers or left outside this new city service entirely.
