A statement released Tuesday by the government Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced the Trump administration has decided to consolidate the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline hotline’s offerings by eliminating the specialty line for LGBTQ youth, including its contract with the Trevor Project, the country’s largest LGBTQ suicide prevention initiative. The Trevor Project’s $26 million contract with the federal government will be terminated within the next 30 days.
Currently, a caller has the option of pressing 3 for LGBTQ-specialized counseling, which the Trevor Project and five other subcontractors provide through trained staff. The Trevor Project currently takes about 50% of that call volume. Under new conditions, no such option will exist. While the administration stressed it was just consolidating lines, they are not eliminating the specialty line for veteran support.
One day after the SAMHSA statement was released, the Supreme Court ruled that it will allow state-level bans on gender-affirming care for minors.
One day after the SAMHSA statement was released, the Supreme Court ruled that it will allow state-level bans on gender-affirming care for minors in United States v. Skrmetti.
The Trevor Project runs its own LGBTQ suicide hotline where it takes 1.3 million calls from queer and trans youth annually and has seen spikes in call volume in connection with events that directly threaten LGBTQ rights, like Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling or Trump winning the last presidential election. Now, many of those callers stand to lose a valuable and often life-saving resource. A source within the organization who spoke with me on the condition of anonymity told me the cut means a serious budget shortfall for the Trevor Project, which could trigger staff layoffs without another funding source to replace it.
“This is devastating, to say the least. Suicide prevention is about people, not politics. 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,” said Trevor Project CEO Jaymes Black in a statement. “Transgender people can never, and will never, be erased.”
But it appears the administration, through SAMHSA, is attempting to do just that. The administration’s decision is much more pernicious than just a simple funding crisis for a critical LGBTQ youth support organization. SAMHSA’s statement noticeably cut off the T and Q from the usual LGBTQ acronym, instead opting for “LGB+,” which has long been language used by anti-trans activists. This follows a vast government effort to effectively erase the terms “trans” or “transgender” from official government usage.
This follows a May report released by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services that not only spread misinformation about youth gender-affirming care but also downplayed the suicide risk of trans youth, essentially falsely claiming that the demographic does experience rampant suicidal thoughts, but rarely actually completes the act of suicide. Research by trusted non-partisan organizations indicates otherwise.
What’s obvious to me is that if that claim about trans youth were really the case, then the Trevor Project and the LGBTQ specialty services under the 988 hotline service have done Herculean work, especially in the face of a relentless conservative political onslaught over the last decade. In that case, a budget cut that guts this critical service is the opposite of what is needed.
What is abundantly clear, and terrifying, is that this administration does not seem to care if trans children die. In fact this move feels tailored to help facilitate trans people disappearing entirely from society.
In the end, none of this is helpful for the very children that conservatives claim to want to protect. As Republican think tanks and lawmakers conspire to come up with ever more horrific and restrictive measures against trans lives, the need for mental health support for the persecuted children affected will only increase.
If you want to do something about this, consider a donation to the Trevor Project, or call or email your federal elected representatives and ask them to restore and mandate the funding.
Most of all, these trans kids need your vocal support. They’re living in a world where almost every media message they receive is that society says they do not belong. What a child fears most is being alone. It’s high time we let them know we’re behind them.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
If you are an LGBTQ young person in crisis, feeling suicidal or in need of a safe and judgment-free place to talk, call the TrevorLifeline now at 1-866-488-7386 or the Rainbow Youth Project at 1-317-643-4888.