Brooklyn resident Emma Lazarus says standing up for each other means protecting trans youth who are unable to speak up for themselves.

“They’ve escalated the attack on us. So we have to escalate standing up for each other,” Lazarus said. “It’s going to come to [people's] power on the streets.”

Lazarus joined hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Manhattan on Monday. They’re protesting after families say NYU-Langone canceled gender transition care for their children following an executive order from President Donald Trump.

The order threatens to withhold federal dollars to health care providers if they continue with transition treatment to patients under the age of 19.

“Children who do not receive that care have significantly higher rates of suicide, of depression, of anxiety, of not being able to thrive in this world,” Clark Wolff Hamel, executive director of PFLAG, a nonprofit organization, said.

According to Wolff Hamel, two families from the organization had their children’s transition treatment canceled at NYU-Langone. He says three other families are no longer able to make appointments for their children.

“Parents are horrified and terrified,” Wolff Hamel said.

A 2022 report says New York state has an estimated 3% of youth ages 13 to 17 who identify as transgender. Even though it is a small number, it’s the largest percentage of transgender youth in the U.S.

“We’re in New York state. Right now, we have protections from something like this happening,” Wolff Hamel said.

State Attorney General Letitia James says not giving the transition care to patients is discrimination under state law.

New York, along with 22 other states, filed a federal lawsuit last week to stop the government from freezing funds to health care providers. A judge has temporarily blocked the federal government from following through with the executive order.

“If NYU, as a hospital, is going to rollback care for patients based on the stroke of a pen, from an illegal executive order from a president, that is an attack on every single patient in the hospital,” Manhattan resident MJ Okma said.

Demonstrators like Lazarus say this isn’t an attack on trans patients, but everyone.

“If they take away trans rights, they’re going to take away everybody else’s rights too,” Lazarus said.

The attorney general says if any health care providers have evidence of violations of the federal judge’s order, they’re told to reach out to her office.

NYU-Langone declined to comment.