Faith, Law, and Power Collide: Inside the Dominican Sisters’ Fight Against New York’s Gender‑Identity Mandate

By: J.J. Pavlick | New York, NY | April 10, 2026 |

For more than a century, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne have done the quiet work most people never see and even fewer could stomach—caring for the dying poor. Their Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, NY, founded in 1901 by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, has always been a place where the final days of life are met with dignity, prayer, and human presence.

They don’t charge, don’t advertise, and don’t turn anyone away in need of care. They just fulfill their religious mission to help everyone, including the poor, who are often mistreated and abused by public hospitals and often given lethal doses to free up a bed for someone of wealth or money. It is sad to say, but many in healthcare administer these lethal doses in the  Principle of Double Effect. This principle permits actions designed to achieve a good effect (relieving pain) despite foreseen, but unintended, negative consequences (shortening life). 

And now, in 2026, they’re in federal court—not because of patient complaints, not because of mistreatment, but because New York State says their religious convictions violate a new gender‑identity mandate for long‑term care facilities.

The sisters say the state is forcing them to deny what they believe is true. The state says the sisters must comply with the law. And the collision between those two positions has become one of the most charged religious‑liberty fights in New York in years.

The Law at the Center of the Storm

Governor of New York Kathy Hochul sponsored the bill in New York on November 30, 2023. In 2024, New York enacted the LGBTQ Long-Term Care Facility Residents’ Bill of Rights, a regulation requiring nursing homes to do the following:

• Assign rooms based on gender identity
• Allow bathroom access based on gender identity
• Use a resident’s chosen pronouns
• Train staff using a 57‑page curriculum centered on gender‑identity affirmation

The law carries teeth: according to the lawsuit, violations could bring fines up to $10,000 or even a year in jail for “willful” noncompliance.

For a Catholic hospice run by vowed religious sisters, the mandate isn’t a paperwork issue—it’s a theological one.

The sisters separate men and women by floor. Under the law, if a biological male identifies as a woman and requests a room on the women’s floor, the sisters would be required to comply—even if other dying women object.

Their lawsuit argues that the state is compelling them to speak and act against their faith.

“We treat each patient with dignity and Christian charity,” said Mother Marie Edward, general superior of the Hawthorne Dominicans. “We cannot implement New York’s mandate without violating our Catholic faith.”

The State Pushes Back

New York’s Department of Health has sent multiple compliance warnings to Rosary Hill Home. While the department declined to comment on the lawsuit, it reiterated that the law exists to protect residents from discrimination “including, but not limited to, gender identity or expression.”

The sisters’ attorneys say they requested an exemption — and received silence. Meanwhile, the state has granted exemptions to at least one other religious group.

That inconsistency is now part of the legal fight.

A Hospice Caught in a Culture War It Didn’t Ask For

Rosary Hill Home is not a political organization. It is a hospice. The sisters bathe patients, feed them, pray with them, and sit with them when families cannot. Their work is intimate, physical, and rooted in a worldview that sees biological sex as immutable.

The lawsuit argues that the state’s mandate doesn’t just regulate conduct — it compels belief.

“To demand that a Catholic deny another’s sex is to require him or her to affirm another religious worldview,” the complaint states.

Supporters of the law say it protects vulnerable LGBTQ residents from discrimination. Critics say it forces religious institutions to adopt an ideology they do not share.

That tension—between civil rights and religious liberty—is now playing out in a federal courtroom.

The Curriculum That Sparked Outrage

The state’s required training materials instruct staff to:

• Avoid assumptions about a resident’s identity
• Ask open‑ended questions
• Share their own pronouns
• Affirm a resident’s stated gender identity

One example describes a “gender nonconforming resident” named Alex who frowns when directed to the men’s restroom—a scenario meant to illustrate how assumptions can create discomfort.

For the sisters, the issue isn’t discomfort. It’s doctrine.

Their attorneys argue that the curriculum requires staff to participate in a worldview that contradicts Catholic teaching—and that the state has no constitutional authority to force that.

The Stakes: Religious Liberty, State Power, and the Future of Faith‑Based Care

If the sisters lose, they face the following:

• Fines
• Loss of licensing
• Potential criminal penalties
• Jail Time

And the broader question becomes unavoidable: Can faith‑based institutions continue to operate in New York if state mandates require them to contradict their beliefs?

The sisters’ attorney, Martin Nussbaum, put it bluntly:

“They accompany people on their final journey in life. They are serving the neediest of the needy.”

The fear is that the state’s mandate could make that work impossible.

A Case Bigger Than One Hospice

This lawsuit is not just about Rosary Hill Home. It’s about the boundaries of state power, about whether religious institutions can continue to operate according to their beliefs. Finally, it’s about whether New York’s approach to gender identity leaves room for dissenting worldviews.

Supporters of the sisters argue that the state is overreaching—using regulatory power to enforce ideological conformity. Supporters of the law argue that dignity and nondiscrimination must apply universally.

The court will now decide where those lines are drawn.

What Comes Next

The case will move through the Southern District of New York in the coming months. The outcome could shape how religious institutions operate in the state — and whether they can continue to serve vulnerable populations without compromising their beliefs.

For now, the sisters continue their work: tending to the dying, praying at bedsides, and living out a mission that predates every modern political fight swirling around them.

Brooklyn, New York, and the country at large deserve institutions that can serve without being forced to abandon the beliefs that built them. The Dominican Sisters have spent more than a century caring for the dying poor—quietly, faithfully, and without asking for anything in return. Now they’re fighting to keep doing it.

For reporting that cuts through the noise and stands with the people doing the real work, stay with Bad Dawg Sports, where we don’t just cover the story.

We run with the pack.