A group of nuns who offer hospice care in New York is suing the state over its gender identity mandate, citing concerns that their employees are facing fines and jail time under the law because they cannot violate their religious beliefs.
The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne offer end-of-life care for the needy at their Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, NY. They’re fighting the state’s 2023 LBGTQ+ gender mandate with the help of the First & Fourteenth religious liberty law firm and the Catholic Benefits Association.
Martin Nussbaum, a partner at First & Fourteenth, told CBN News, “The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne have for 125 years engaged in one apostolate or ministry, that is to provide comfort and skilled nursing care to indigent individuals suffering from incurable cancer.”
He points out that the nuns perform their ministry entirely as an act of religious charity, accepting no government funds, no Medicare, no Medicaid, no insurance, and no payment from the patients or their families.
“They just love them, and they view their patients and their work as serving Christ. When they serve the patients, they are serving Christ, just like set forth in the 25th chapter of Matthew’s gospel,” he said. “They have Catholic values and beliefs that call them to this work and guide the contours of this work.”
Nussbaum says the state has given an exemption to the Christian Scientists, but they don’t grant the religious exemption for Catholics or other groups. “The fact that the state gives a religious exemption to Christian Scientists is an admission by the state that they know there are large moral issues about imposing gender ideology upon religious groups providing these services,” he said.
The law requires hospice facilities to support patients’ gender identities, including allowing biological males to use women’s restrooms, and requiring staffers to use a patient’s preferred pronouns, even when the patient isn’t present. The nuns would also be barred from restricting sexual activity in their nursing home.
A Catholic Benefits Association press release further explains, “The New York gender ideology mandate requires Rosary Hill Home and other long-term care facilities to house biological men in women’s rooms even over the opposition of a female roommate, to permit residents and their visitors of one sex to access bathrooms set aside for those of the opposite sex, to use false pronouns, to use language and ‘create communities’ affirming patients’ sexual preferences, and to accommodate patients desire for extramarital sexual relations.”
The nuns say they cannot comply with rules that force them to compromise their religious beliefs.
“We Sisters have taken care of patients from all walks of life, ideologies, and faiths. We treat each patient with dignity and Christian charity. We have never had complaints. We cannot implement New York’s mandate without violating our Catholic faith,” Mother Marie Edward from the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne said in a press release, according to the Global Sisters Report.
The group previously asked for an exemption from the law, but Nussbaum says the New York Department of Health has not responded to their letters. That’s why they’ve taken the case to court, contending that the mandate violates both the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause.
The New York State Department of Health is not commenting on the case.
“While the Department does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation, the NYS Department of Health is committed to following state law, which provides nursing home residents certain rights protecting against discrimination including, but not limited to, gender identity or expression,” Cadence Acquaviva, a spokesperson for the NY State Department of Health, told RNS by email.
