Overview
- The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan challenging New York’s 2024 LGBTQ Long-Term Care Residents’ Bill of Rights on behalf of Rosary Hill Home, a 42-bed cancer care facility for the poor.
- The law requires facilities to honor a resident’s gender identity in rooms, restrooms, and pronouns, post anti-discrimination notices, and run staff trainings, with fines for violations and possible jail for willful breaches.
- The sisters say they sought a religious exemption, received no reply, have not been penalized, and now ask the court for a narrow injunction that lets them operate under Catholic practices.
- Their complaint argues the rules compel speech and conflict with Catholic teaching and highlights a carveout for Christian Science facilities they say treats denominations unequally.
- The health department declined comment and affirmed it will follow state anti-bias rules that supporters back with studies showing many LGBTQ elders hide their identity in long-term care.