Catholic Hospice Sues NY Over Gender Identity Law

The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, a Catholic order operating a free hospice for low-income cancer patients in Westchester County, New York, filed a federal lawsuit this month against Governor Kathy Hochul and the state Department of Health. The suit challenges a 2023 state law requiring long-term care facilities to accommodate residents' gender identities in room assignments, bathroom access, and staff interactions, which the sisters say conflicts with their religious beliefs.

Rosary Hill Home, the 42-bed facility run by the order in Hawthorne, provides palliative care to indigent patients with terminal cancer at no cost, accepting neither insurance nor government funding. Founded in 1900 by Mother Mary Alphonsa Lathrop, daughter of author Nathaniel Hawthorne and a Catholic convert, the home has served patients without recorded complaints or citations over a four-year period ending in January 2026, according to state records. The facility currently houses patients by biological sex, with separate floors for men and women, and relies on about 14 nuns and lay aides to deliver care guided by Catholic teachings.

The law in question, signed by Hochul on November 30, 2023,...