New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration has put $8.9 million of city money into two contracts that pay for puberty blockers and hormones for patients under 18. The contracts were reported on Tuesday, October 6, and run from February 1, 2027, through June 30, 2029.
Story Highlights
- Two city contracts worth $8.9 million cover gender treatment for minors from 2027 into 2029.
- The city health department said in writing that the money covers puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors.
- The vendors are Callen‑Lorde and the Nonprofit Organization for Philanthropic Initiatives.
- The money is more than half of a $15 million plan Mamdani announced in June.
What the Money Buys
The city health department spelled it out in a written statement. The work “includes the prescription and administration of puberty-blockers and hormone replacement therapy to all minor patients for whom such services are medically necessary,” the department said. Puberty blockers are drugs that pause the body changes of puberty. Hormone replacement therapy, in this use, means giving testosterone or estrogen so the body develops like that of the opposite gender. The department said licensed medical providers will do the work and will follow New York’s parental consent laws.
Zohran Mamdani Administration Signs Multimillion Dollar Contracts With Vendors for ‘Gender-Affirming’ Care for Minors https://t.co/lzHvhvyiBW #gatewaypundit via @gatewaypundit
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Mamdani, a Democrat who took office in January, has made this spending a priority. The administration signed the two contracts, according to reports, and the city listed them in a notice dated September 29 in the City Record, the city’s official journal of government business. The notice names Callen‑Lorde, a New York health center, and the Nonprofit Organization for Philanthropic Initiatives. It allows a renewal of three more years. Other providers may apply by October 16.
Why the City Skipped Normal Bidding
City contracts usually go through sealed competitive bids. This time the health department said it could not wait. Its notice cited “a compelling need for gender-affirming care services that cannot be met timely by competitive sealed proposals.”
The $8.9 million comes out of a $15 million fund Mamdani announced at a Pride event in June. The fund covers the city’s 2026 and 2027 budget years. These two contracts take up more than half of it, and they are aimed at patients under 18.
Hospitals Stopped, City Hall Stepped In
The city is moving in as large hospitals move out. NYU Langone Health in New York and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center reached agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice to stop giving puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries to patients under 18. The Justice Department has argued the treatments are medically dangerous for children.
Mamdani has attacked those agreements. He said they “politicize families’ most private medical decisions, vilify lifesaving care, and undermine professional medical judgment.” His answer has been to pay other providers with city tax dollars. Neither the mayor’s office nor the Justice Department answered requests for comment on the contracts, according to reports.
Critics Call It Ideology, Not Medicine
Gerard Kassar, chairman of the New York State Conservative Party, said the mayor’s team has its priorities backward. “They’re making an ideological decision instead of a medical decision,” Kassar said. Critics also say, according to reports, that the city is working around the federal government’s position that these treatments should not be given to children.
For taxpayers, the plain facts are these. The city is spending $8.9 million. The patients are minors. The treatments are drugs that stop or change puberty. The health department put all of that in writing. And the money is committed into the middle of 2029, with an option that could carry it three years past that.
What Parents Should Know
The department says state parental consent laws apply and that only licensed New York providers will give the treatments. The contracts start on February 1, 2027. Until then, other providers have until October 16 to apply for a share of the work.
New Yorkers are paying for a service that major hospitals have agreed to stop providing to children. City Hall chose to fund it, chose the vendors without the usual bidding, and locked in the money for years. Voters can judge that choice with the facts in front of them.
Sources:
thegatewaypundit.com, gothamist.com, nypost.com, getlocalpost.com
