{"id":275348,"date":"2026-06-23T15:25:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/275348\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T15:25:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:25:29","slug":"doj-backs-nuns-caring-for-dying-cancer-patients-in-fight-against-new-york-trans-ideology-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/275348\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ backs nuns caring for dying cancer patients in fight against New York trans ideology mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Justice Department is backing a group of Catholic nuns who say New York\u2019s transgender policies could force them to choose between their religious beliefs and continuing to care for indigent cancer patients in their final days.<\/p>\n

\u201cStates should take notice that they cannot require Americans to abandon their religious beliefs in the name of woke gender ideology,\u201d Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division said in a\u00a0Thursday statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor more than a century, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne have provided free palliative care to indigent cancer patients in their last days,\u201d Dhillon added. \u201cNew York\u2019s law would force these religious women to choose between their faith and their license if they wish to continue serving the dying.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who operate a home for dying cancer patients in Westchester County, argue New York\u2019s law could subject them to fines, loss of their operating license and other penalties if they refuse to comply with requirements related to gender identity, pronouns, room assignments and access to sex-specific facilities.<\/p>\n

A Dominican Sister of Hawthorne hugs a resident. Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne<\/p>\n

If the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne do not comply with\u00a0the New York transgender mandate, they face fines up to $2,000 per violation \u2014 rising to $5,000 \u2014 court-ordered forced compliance, loss of licensing and up to one year in prison and fines up to $10,000.<\/p>\n

The New York transgender mandate, the \u201cLesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and people living with HIV long-term care facility residents\u2019 bill of rights,\u201d\u00a0signed into law<\/a>\u00a0on Nov. 30, 2023, bans long-term care facilities and staff \u201cfrom discriminating against any resident on the basis of a resident\u2019s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or HIV status,\u201d according to a press release from Hochul\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The sisters say that the New York transgender law would require them to\u00a0assign rooms by gender identity, not biological sex; allow access to opposite-sex bathrooms; allow expression, relationships and identity practices; use preferred pronouns; require staff training in gender ideology; and post a public notice stating compliance with the law.<\/p>\n

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during an event to celebrate the Vital Brooklyn Initiative with the completion of Utica Crescent in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, on June 17, 2026. Andrew Schwartz \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n

The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and The Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer dba Rosary Hill Home are members of the Catholic Benefits Association. Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne<\/p>\n

In their lawsuit, filed on April 6, the sisters highlighted that during the four-year reporting period from Feb. 1, 2022, through Jan. 31, 2026, the New York State Department of Health had received \u201czero complaints\u201d from their residents, compared with \u201cmore than 55,000 complaints against other nursing homes,\u201d and an average of 23 citations per facility during the same period.<\/p>\n

Martin Nussbaum, general counsel for Catholic Benefits Association, who is representing the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, told Fox News Digital that the sisters\u2019 risk of lost licensing applies both to the entity, Rosary Hill Home, and to its staff members who are professionally licensed.<\/p>\n

\u201cActing Attorney General Todd Blanche\u2019s formal certification of Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne v. Hochul as a case of \u2018general public importance\u2019 sends a welcome signal that a state\u2019s policy preference for gender ideology does not trump the protection for religious freedom embedded in our country\u2019s DNA,\u201d Nussbaum said.<\/p>\n

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said \u201cThis is just another sad attempt by the Trump administration to weaponize the justice system to attack political opponents in an election year.\u00a0New York\u2019s decision to move to a single fiscal intermediary has already saved taxpayers more than a billion dollars while deterring fraud, waste and abuse. As many courts have already held, the transition to a single fiscal intermediary was lawful and appropriate.\u00a0We are confident the\u00a0facts\u00a0are on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital reached out to the\u00a0Department of Justice\u00a0for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Justice Department is backing a group of Catholic nuns who say New York\u2019s transgender policies could force…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9959,1082,9,24,55,54,54724,56,7675,58],"class_list":["post-275348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-human-rights","tag-justice-department","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-nuns","tag-ny","tag-religion","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}