NEW YORK - Late in the evening on May 11th, NYU Langone shared in a public notice that they have received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's office in the Northern District of Texas for personal, confidential health care records for all minors who received gender-affirming health care in the last six years at their facility as well as names of medical providers of that care. First reported by Erin Reed, this story has now been covered in Gothamist and them.us. It is the first known grand jury issued criminal subpoena directed at a healthcare institution for providing medically necessary care to transgender youth, and Langone's public message indicates other hospitals have also received criminal subpoenas.

Let's be clear about what is happening here: The Trump administration and US Attorneys' Office in North Texas are coming after New Yorkers' private health records. This is part of a broader, escalating effort to use the power of government to intimidate doctors, families, advocates, and organizations that refuse to conform to an extremist political agenda. Today the target is transgender people and the groups that support them. Tomorrow it will be another community deemed politically convenient to attack.

Similar administrative subpoenas have been issued in other states, including to hospitals in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, the District of Columbia, and Washington State.

Age-appropriate, best-practice health care for transgender youth is supported by every major medical organization in the United States, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association. Efforts to criminalize or intimidate those who support evidence-based care are not grounded in science or medicine - they are grounded in fear and political scapegoating.