Trump administration removing 988 hotline service tailored to LGBTQ+
youth in July
[June 19, 2025]
By DEVI SHASTRI
The 988 National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline will stop providing tailored
support options to LGBTQ+ youth and young adults on July 17, according
to a statement on a federal agency's website.
The decision preempts the Trump administration's 2026 budget proposal to
cut funding for 988's LGBTQ+ youth and young adult services, and is
raising alarm bells among LGBTQ+ advocates.
Federal data shows the LGBTQ+ youth program has served nearly 1.3
million callers since it started in September 2022. The services were
accessible under the “Press 3” option on the phone or by replying
“PRIDE” via text.
___
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or
someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in
the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.
___
The decision was was made to “no longer silo” the services and “to focus
on serving all help seekers, including those previously served through
the Press 3 option," the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) said
in a statement dated Tuesday on its website.
News of the LGBTQ+ service shutting down comes as the U.S. Supreme Court
upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors
on Wednesday.
The Trevor Project said it received official notice Tuesday that the
program was ending. The nonprofit is one of seven centers that provides
988 crisis support services for LGBTQ+ people — and serves nearly half
of the people who contact the lifeline.
“ Suicide prevention is about people, not politics,” Trevor Project CEO
Jaymes Black said in a statement Wednesday. “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.”
In its statement on the 988 decision, SAMHSA referred to the “LGB+ youth
services.”
Black called the omission of the “T” representing transgender people
“callous.” “Transgender people can never, and will never, be erased,” he
said.
[to top of second column]
|
A man uses a cell phone in New Orleans, Aug. 11, 2019. (AP
Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
 The Trevor Project will continue to
run its 24/7 mental health support services, as will other
organizations, and leaders of 988 say the hotline will serve anyone
who calls with compassion.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were
49,300 suicides in 2023 — about the highest level in the nation’s
history, based on preliminary data.
Studies have shown that LGBTQ+ youth are at higher risk of suicide,
including a 2024 analysis by the CDC that found 26% transgender and
gender-questioning students attempted suicide in the past year.
That's compared with 5% of cisgender male and 11% of cisgender
female students.
Young transgender people flooded crisis hotlines with calls after
President Donald Trump was re-elected. Trump made anti-transgender
themes central to his campaign and has since rolled back many civil
rights protections and access to gender-affirming care.
Trump signed the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020
into law in October 2020.
The specific 988 subprogram for LGBTQ+ youth cost $33 million in
fiscal year 2024, according to SAMHSA, and as of June 2025, more
than $33 million has been spent on the services. The Trump
administration's 2026 budget proposal called for keeping 988's total
budget at $520 million even while eliminating the LGBTQ+ services.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to wrap SAMHSA and
other agencies into a new HHS office called Administration for a
Healthy America, where it would coexist with employees from other
agencies responsible for chemical exposures and work-related
injuries.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
