Trump administration ends 988 Lifeline’s special service for LGBTQ+ young people

The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline of the Land, 988, closed the specialized services for LGBTQ+ Youth this week. The move came a day after the lifeline was three years since the launch. During this period it introduced more than 16 million calls, text messages and chats. Almost 10% of those contacts were of gays and transgender young people, According to data about the government.

“This is a tragic moment,” says Mark Henson, vice -president of government matters and advocacy The Trevor projectOne of the various organizations that had contracts with the federal government to provide advisory services for this vulnerable population. The Trevor Project Velt about half of the LGBTQ+ contacts.

Data of the Youth behavior Risk -surveyPerformed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, show that LGBTQ+ young people are more likely to experience persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness compared to their peers, and more chance of trying suicide.

When these young people contact 988, they have had the option to press 3 to be connected to a counselor that is specifically trained to support their unique needs of mental health associated with discrimination and violence They are often confronted. This service is comparable to what 988 offers veterans, who also run a higher risk of suicide, and have access to support that is tailor -made for them by pressing 1 when they contact 988. That service is retained when 988 arrives its fourth years.

“Many LGBTQ+ young people who use these services did not know that they existed until they called 988 and discovered that there is someone on the other side of the line who knows what they have experienced and takes care of them,” says Henson.

Government data show that the demand for this service grew steadily since it was launched, from approximately 2,000 contacts per month in September 2022 to almost 70,000 in recent months.

Made during Trump 1.0

The 988 Lifeline, including its services for veterans and LGBTQ+ young people, was started by two -part legislation signed by President Trump in the law during his first term. In June, the Trump administration announced in a press release that the “Will no longer be Silo LGB+ Youth Services, also known as the ‘Press 3 option’, to concentrate on serving all Help seekers. “

“The option 3 option 3 has not directed a congress,” said Danielle Bennett, a spokesperson for the drug abuse and the Mental Health Administration, who is responsible for 988, to NPR in an E -mail.

The congress had assigned more than $ 33 million for the LGBTQ+ services for 2025 and the money was spent by June 2025, according to Bennett. The assigned amount for all 988 services for this year was almost $ 520 million.

“Continuous financing of the Pers 3 option threatened to jeopardize the entire 988 suicide and crisis life line Solid reductions, “wrote Bennett.

Henson, with the TREVOR project, says that the congress that money was allocated was also surpassed in previous years, and the BIDEN administration has re -assigned more money to finance the organization based on the work they have provided.

“So there was the knowledge and concept at the beginning of the year that the congress had set aside, would probably be surpassed,” he says.

“I believe the [current] Administration has the option, like previous administrations, to continue to finance this program, “henson added.

“When we created the hotline of 988, we knew it was important that those calls, all of them are answered quickly,” says Senator Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Who wrote the Bipartisan legislation who created 988. “Someone who has answered this call in a Timely Timely. Responsible way.”

Ending the services for LGBTQ+ young people is a political step, says Baldwin.

“They have not had any attacks on members of the LGBTQ community, in particular transgender individuals, transgender youth,” she says. “In the light of those ruthless political attacks on this very vulnerable community, cutting a lifeline is absolutely cruel.”

Other ways to achieve help

The Trevor project, which the gay and trans -youth community served through its own lifeline, will continue to offer that support well before 988, says Henson, although “the loss of this federal financing means that our ability to do this is cut in two,” he says.

But, he adds: “We have worked together with our counselors, we have worked internally, we have worked with allies to ensure that everyone knows that the Trevor project itself, regardless of what is happening, will continue to support the mental health of LGBTQ Plus young people in crisis.”

Such young people can go https://www.thetrevorpproject.org/get-help/ To reach a trained counselor. Here are the specific ways to reach the service.

-Bel 1-866-488-7386

-Text “Start” up to 678-678

-Or chat of a computer

“We have asked supporters and others to strengthen our crisis services, so that someone is at stake when the LGBTQ+young people reach,” he says.

Although the option 3 option 3 is no longer available, someone calls the 988 suicide and crisis life line in a crisis – including young people – to make contact with a counselor.