Cornell Health has deleted several lines from its gender-affirming care page. The move follows an executive order from President Donald Trump directing federal entities to withhold funding from medical providers that offer gender-affirming treatments to individuals under 19 years old.
Cornell Health’s gender-affirming care page previously noted that “New York State has legislation in place to protect access to gender-affirming care” and that they “do not anticipate any future changes to the services [they] provide,” as of Jan. 9.
Cornell Health added that “students enrolled in Cornell’s Student Health Plan and other New York-based employer and exchange insurance plans in 2025 will continue to have coverage for gender-affirming care.”
However, after Trump issued his executive order on Jan. 28 instructing federal agencies to deny funding to medical providers that administer gender-affirming treatments to individuals under the age of 19, Cornell Health removed these statements from its website.
At time of publication, the page now states that “Cornell Health remains committed to providing gender-affirming services for students at this time; and [they] are monitoring rapidly changing legal developments in this area which could affect individuals under 19.”
Some members of Cornell’s transgender community said they are dissatisfied with the adjustment in Cornell Health’s messaging. According to Hugo Keil ’27, “It is sickening. There is no compromise between transphobia and supporting transgender students. You can’t find a happy medium between a band of frothing, rabid fascists and an individual who merely wishes to maintain their rights as ensured by New York State.”
Rather than directing students to specific resources such as Cornell’s Student Health Plan as it previously did before the executive order, the website now only states that “students with specific questions about their care should contact their medical provider or plan administrator regarding insurance coverage.”
SHP is a health insurance plan providing coverage for students and their dependents, facilitating access to care on campus and beyond. The current plan includes benefits for transgender services, offering payment for permanent hair removal, including electrolysis when a student is undergoing sex reassignment surgery.
“University leadership continues to evaluate how new executive orders affect our community,” Cornell Media Relations wrote in a statement to The Sun. “As more concrete information becomes available, we will provide guidance on how the executive orders and other directives may impact our programs and community members.”
Keil described entering Cornell expecting it to be a safe haven from the discrimination they faced elsewhere.
“I believed that, in coming to Cornell, I had finally managed to escape into an environment which was actively affirming of transgender liberty and refuted discrimination,” Keil said. “I was naive beyond all reason.”
Karys Everett ’25, Student Assembly undesignated representative at-large and political action chair for Haven: The LGBTQ Student Union, expressed a similar sentiment criticizing Cornell Health’s actions.
“The University continues to make it abundantly clear that it is easier to give in to hate and repression rather than supporting their students who continue to be impacted by targeted and hateful policy,” Everett said. “It is incredibly disappointing and unsettling that when queer students are repeatedly targeted through legislation, through hate crimes, through speakers brought on campus, the University makes no effort to protect them.”
Weill Cornell Medicine similarly removed a public statement affirming its commitment to providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth in correspondence with Trump’s executive order.
Some students are calling for Cornell to take more proactive measures to protect transgender students.
“If Cornell cared about protecting the dignity and survival of their transgender students, they would take initiative during this time of incredible federal repression of transgender liberty to reinstate their affirmation of support,” Keil said.
Amid Cornell’s messaging adjustments, Everett promoted student-led organizations and campus resource centers.
“To queer students, resources are available to serve you when the university will not,” Everett said, referring to the LGBT Resource Center, HAVEN The LGBT Student Union and the Gender Equity Resource Center, as “just a few examples of places that are always safe and welcome for students to protect themselves.”
