Mayor Zohran Mamdani went to Brooklyn on Thursday to announce the opening of two new clinics with NYC Health + Hospitals aimed at serving teenagers and young adults. The clinics, one at NYC Health + Hospital in Queens and one at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, will be made possible through a $4 million investment from MetroPlusHealth, a New York insurance provider.
"There are too many cliffs that our young people are prone to falling off," Aboelata said during a groundbreaking event on Wednesday. "They leave the school setting, they graduate, or they become disconnected from school. They drop out. At 18, they fall off with certain benefits, or at 21 or 24. Because of the way our resources and systems are set up, young people fall through the gaps."
The "Let Kids Be Kids" rally, organized by the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA), called for an end to gender-affirming care for minors, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and genital surgery some of which isn't currently available for people under 18 in Canada. "We believe we need to let kids be, to grow and develop naturally without medical gender transitions," said Daniel Zekveld, a policy analyst with ARPA.
