In an April 21 op-ed, New York Rep. Claudia Tenney condemned “radical gender identity mandates” imposed on long-term care facilities, saying the requirements target the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne by requiring practices that conflict with their Catholic faith and moral teaching.
The religious order, which follows the tradition of Saint Dominic, provides palliative care to cancer patients in their final days, and describes its ministry as extending God’s “healing presence.”
In the op-ed published on FOX News, Tenney argued a law that took effect in 2024 is part of a broader effort by the state to regulate institutions that do not align with its “ideological agenda.”
The law, S.1783A/A.372A, requires long-term care facilities to make accommodations based on “gender identity,” including room assignments and the use of “preferred pronouns” – actions the sisters say would require them to act contrary to their Catholic faith and moral teaching and undermine their mission to uphold each person’s dignity.
“New York state,” Tenney said, “is focused on shutting down a charitable institution that provides care, compassion and dignity to those at the end of their lives, while they allow New Yorkers to suffer from the consequences of their own policies.”
Tenney also described the state’s actions as “an attempt to silence the faithful” and force obedience to the “woke mob.”
She emphasized the compassionate nature of the sisters who, having faithfully accompanied the dying for more than a century, are now facing threats of legal consequences, including facility shutdown, if they do not comply with the law.
According to the National Catholic Bioethics Center, the sisters and the Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer filed a federal legal challenge April 14 against the New York State Department of Health, naming New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and officials with the state Department of Health.