The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne have filed a lawsuit against the State of New York, claiming that new gender identity requirements for nursing homes violate their constitutional rights and would force them to act against their Catholic faith.
The sisters, who operate Rosary Hill Home, a 42-bed facility providing free care to terminal cancer patients, lodged their complaint in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The defendants include Governor Kathy Hochul and officials from the New York State Department of Health, all named in their official capacities.
At the centre of the dispute is the state’s “Long-Term Care Facility Residents’ Bill of Rights for LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers and People Living with HIV”, which requires care homes to house residents according to their gender identity, allow access to bathrooms on the same basis and use preferred names and pronouns.
In a statement, Mother Marie Edward, the congregation’s superior general, said: “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.”
The lawsuit argues that the law compels the sisters to “act against central, unchangeable and architectural teachings of the Catholic faith”. It adds, “The implications are so much greater than whether to utter the words ‘he’ or ‘she’. Indeed, to demand that a Catholic deny another’s sex is to require him or her to affirm another religious worldview.”
The legal action follows a series of letters sent to the sisters by the state’s public health authorities warning of potential violations. These included “refusing to assign a room to a resident other than in accordance with the resident’s gender identity” and “wilfully and repeatedly failing to use a resident’s preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed”.
Under the legislation, nursing homes must also post notices affirming non-discrimination on grounds including sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status, and ensure staff undergo regular training. The complaint states that facilities are required to “create communities” that affirm residents’ sexual preferences and “accommodate patients’ desire for extramarital relations”, unless such conduct is uniformly restricted.
Penalties for non-compliance include fines of up to $2,000 for a first violation and $5,000 for subsequent breaches. “Wilful violations” may attract fines of up to $10,000 or imprisonment for up to one year. “A wilful violation is a knowing one; there is no element of evil motive required,” the lawsuit states.
The sisters also argue that the law is applied unevenly. The complaint notes that facilities operated by the Church of Christ, Congregationalist, Scientist are exempt, as the statute does not apply to those “whose teachings include reliance on spiritual means through prayer alone for healing”. This, the sisters contend, amounts to unconstitutional discrimination between religious groups.
A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health said: “While the Department does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation, the Department 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.”
The legislation was passed in 2023 with overwhelming support in both chambers of the New York legislature and was signed into law by Hochul on November 30 that year. At the time, the governor said: “New York’s seniors should be able to live their lives with the dignity and respect they deserve, free from discrimination of every kind.”
Rosary Hill Home has operated for more than a century without charge to patients and without recorded complaints. The sisters say they had not encountered the legislation until they began receiving correspondence from state officials.
Their legal representatives have indicated that they are seeking an injunction to prevent enforcement of the law against the home, arguing that it infringes both freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment.
The congregation was founded in 1900 by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, daughter of the American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, who converted to Catholicism and dedicated her life to caring for those with incurable cancer. The order continues that work today, with sisters serving patients in their final months.
