Religious Liberty and Health Care

The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, a Catholic order that has operated Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, New York, for more than a century, have filed a lawsuit challenging New York’s 'Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and people living with HIV long-term care facility residents' bill of rights. The sisters say the law, signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Nov. 30, 2023, and enforced through 2024 'Dear Administrator' letters from the state Department of Health, would force them to assign rooms by gender identity rather than biological sex, allow opposite‑sex bathroom access, adopt preferred pronouns and LGBT relationship policies, conduct mandated staff training in what they call 'gender ideology,' and post public compliance notices. According to the complaint and a Catholic Benefits Association release, noncompliance could trigger fines of $2,000 to $5,000 per violation, loss of licensing, court‑ordered forced compliance, and up to one year in jail and $10,000 in fines. The sisters argue these mandates violate their religious‑exercise and free‑speech rights and threaten a 42‑bed facility that provides free end‑of‑life cancer care without insurance or government money, noting that DOH logged zero complaints against Rosary Hill over a recent four‑year period compared with more than 55,000 complaints and an average of 23 citations per other nursing home. The case adds a new flashpoint in the national fight over how far nondiscrimination rules may reach into religious health‑care institutions, with social media already splitting into camps accusing New York of criminalizing traditional Catholic practice and, on the other side, warning against carve‑outs that could undercut protections for LGBT and HIV‑positive residents.