The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who for more than a century have cared for terminal cancer patients, have sued the State of New York, alleging officials have threatened to shut down their ministry unless they violate their Catholic faith.
At the heart of the issue is New York’s LGBTQ Long-Term Care Facility Residents’ Bill of Rights, which, effective May 2024, prohibits long-term care facilities and their staff from discriminating against any resident on the basis of their gender identity. The mandate only exempts facilities operated by the Church of Christ, Scientist.
The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne operate Rosary Hill Home, which is a 42-bed skilled nursing facility that provides palliative care and comfort to terminal cancer patients. The mandate, the lawsuit states, “prohibits Rosary Hill Home and its staff from assigning patients to rooms by biological sex, prohibits segregating restrooms by biological sex, requires the use of patients’ preferred pronouns even when the patient is not present, and requires allowing patients to cross-dress.”
The sisters and the facility face fines, injunctions, potential loss of licensing, and imprisonment if they fail to comply, according to the lawsuit. Martin Nussbaum, general counsel for the Catholic Benefits Association and lead counsel for the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne in the lawsuit, told The Tablet that with the renewal process approaching the potential of loss of license for staff members makes the lawsuit especially timely.
“We have people who are exposed and could lose their license,” he said, adding that the state is “not currently threatening us except in their statements to the press.”
According to the lawsuit, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and Rosary Hill Home submitted a written request to the state for an exemption from the mandate on March 5, which as of the date the lawsuit was filed, has not been answered.
In a statement to The Tablet, a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health stood by the mandate. They did not, however, say whether the department had received the March letter from the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.
“While the Department does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation, the NYS Department of Health is committed to following state law, which provides nursing home residents certain rights protecting against discrimination including, but not limited to, gender identity or expression,” the spokesperson said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, at the time it was passed, hailed the mandate as allowing New York’s seniors to with “the dignity and respect they deserve, free from discrimination.”
“LGBTQIA+ and HIV-positive seniors are among our most vulnerable populations, and today we are taking steps to ensure that all New Yorkers — regardless of who they are, who they love, or their HIV status — find safety and support in places where they need it the most. Hate will never have a place in New York,” she said in a statement.
The conflict over the mandate stems back to March 2024. Since, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and Rosary Hill Home have received three letters from the state, specifically officials acting on behalf of the Department of Health, “altering the Sisters to their purported obligations under” the mandate. The first letter was received on March 18, 2024; the second on Oct. 2, 2024; and the last on Jan. 16, 2025.
With the lawsuit, which was filed in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne are asking the court to declare that the mandate violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, prevent the state from enforcing the mandate against them, and award them “the costs of this action and reasonable attorney’s fees as provided by law,” as well as “such other and further relief as the Court deems equitable and just.”