How We Stopped Trump from Seizing the Health Records of Trans Youth

When you take your child to see the doctor, you expect your provider to keep their medical records private. After all, these records contain family histories, test results, discussion notes, treatment decisions, and other highly personal information.

But President Trump has no respect for the privacy of young trans people or their families. His administration has engaged in an eighteen-month effort to bully them, shifting tactics regularly as courts around the country strike down efforts as unlawful.

In May 2026, a federal grand jury in Fort Worth sent a subpoena to NYU Langone Hospitals, demanding that they turn over the identities and sensitive health information of any patient who had received medical treatment for gender dysphoria at the hospital while they were under 18 years old between January 2020 through May 2026. Other healthcare institutions in New York City, including Mount Sinai Health System, may have received similar subpoenas, though the nature of these is unclear.

Releasing these records would brazenly violate patients’ constitutional rights to keep their most sensitive information from the Trump regime’s prying eyes. It would also breach the doctor-patient privilege protected under New York state law.

The NYCLU, the ACLU, and Lambda Legal quickly sued, and on June 24, we won an order from a judge temporarily blocking the government from obtaining the sensitive, private records of any young person implicated. On July 8, the court extended this order, ensuring no records are disclosed while the case plays out in court.

As one trans young person impacted by Trump’s hunt for medical records told us, “I never thought that this private information might be revealed to the government.” And why would they? The government’s request includes deeply personal and identifying information.

This subpoena also comes in the context of Trump’s all-out assault on the rights of trans people and amidst a broader vilification of trans people that understandably makes them terrified of the government obtaining their personal information.

How Have the Subpoenas Impacted Families?

NYU Langone patients were shocked to learn, via a note in their MyChart app and a letter posted to the hospital’s website, that a hostile federal government had demanded their private medical records. (New York’s Shield Law requires this notification.)

The news sent families reeling. They had sought care at NYU Langone, in some cases after a long or difficult search for a provider, and had handed over entire health histories with the understanding that doing so was necessary to get their children the care they needed.

Even in states like New York that have not banned gender-affirming care, families of trans children often struggle to access the healthcare their children need. One parent spoke of the relief she felt upon finding a provider who her son could trust and who empathized with his experiences. The family revealed a great deal of private information in order to make this care happen, fully expecting it would remain confidential.

The stress of knowing whether personal information about her son and the rest of her family might be handed over to the government has made it difficult for her to sleep and harder to do her job. It feels, she says, like she and her son are being punished for seeking out an NYU Langone provider.

A patient plaintiff who is now over 18 years old described the lengthy, collaborative process they engaged in with their doctor. Over many conversations, they built trust with their provider and agreed upon a carefully-tailored treatment plan.

“I never questioned whether I needed to be concerned about my medical information being kept in confidence,” they said. “It feels so invasive that the federal government is seeking my entire medical records without any justification.”

Why Is the Government Seeking These Records?

The federal government claims it is demanding this information to investigate, among other things, healthcare offenses relating to branding, labeling, and billing. But the government has provided no plausible explanation for why it needs the identities of patients and their families to investigate alleged healthcare offenses by hospitals and providers, and multiple courts have confirmed that it doesn’t.

Physicians, patients, and families understand that the true purpose of these attacks is to frighten both providers and patients away from gender-affirming care.

Gender-affirming care is healthcare – period. Numerous major medical organizations uphold its legitimacy. It should never be used as a pawn for political ends. By weaponizing federal investigations, the administration is trying to override parental rights, stop families from making their own healthcare decisions in consultation with their doctors, and block access to care that is protected under New York law.

The Trump administration’s threats have already had a chilling effect at NYU Langone. An executive order signed by Trump in January 2025 threatened to pull funding from providers of gender-affirming care, and in December the government issued a plan to do just that. This February, NYU Langone shuttered its program serving transgender young people.

The government has also attempted to use civil administrative subpoenas – which are different from criminal grand jury subpoenas – to obtain detailed medical records from hospitals in Washington, Massachusetts, and elsewhere. Courts have quashed these administrative subpoenas, and the criminal grand jury subpoena directed at NYU (and likely other New York hospitals) represents an escalation of these efforts.

Our recently-won court order means the government cannot continue to seek – or obtain – patients’ medical records while the case continues. But the Trump administration’s attacks on gender-affirming care are far from over.

That’s why we won’t stop fighting to protect people’s right to access the medical care they need while keeping their medical information private. Like everyone else, trans youth deserve to be able to live as their authentic selves.