A mental health support option for LGBTQ youth is facing shutdown after the Trump administration decided to cut its funding. The service, federally funded 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, allowed young LGBTQ callers to press option 3 to connect with trained counselors.
Trump Cuts LGBTQ Youth Hotline From National Suicide Lifeline
Now, the administration says this specific option promotes what it calls “radical gender ideology.” The administration has ordered the service to be discontinued. However, it insists the general 988 Lifeline will still serve all callers with “compassion and help.”
Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, which helped run the LGBTQ option, warned of the potential harm this move could bring. “Suicide prevention is about people, not politics,” said Black, who added the group was told to shut the service down within 30 days. “The administration’s decision to remove a bipartisan, evidence-based service that has effectively supported a high-risk group of young people through their darkest moments is incomprehensible.”
Politicizes Youth Mental Health During Pride Month
The change was announced during Pride Month, a time meant to honor LGBTQ identities and struggles. It also comes right before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the overall 988 Lifeline would now “focus on serving all help seekers,” and would “no longer silo LGB+ youth services,” noticeably leaving out the “T” and “Q” from the LGBTQ acronym.
>In a prior statement to NBC News, HHS described the LGBTQ-specific line as a “chat service where children are encouraged to embrace radical gender ideology by ‘counselors’ without consent or knowledge of their parents.”
This move contradicts a 2020 law, signed by then-President Trump, that required special support within the 988 Lifeline. This was for high-risk groups like LGBTQ youth, Native Americans, and rural communities.
That same law recognized that LGBTQ youth were “more than 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide than their peers.” It also recognised that over one-third of transgender youth had attempted suicide.
The Trevor Project said it had helped more than 231,000 LGBTQ crisis contacts in 2024 through the 988 Lifeline. Though this partnership is ending, the organization plans to continue its services independently.
This is part of a wider trend under Trump’s leadership to limit LGBTQ rights and services. This includes bans on DEI policies, transgender military service, and gender-neutral passport options.