On July 17, President Donald Trump’s administration administration shut down the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ Youth Specialized Services program—despite a significant increase in calls since late last year and bipartisan warnings against ending the program, media outlets reported.
According to Gay City News, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)—which is within the Department of Health and Human Services—announced on June 17 that the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which served individuals under the age of 25, would “no longer silo LGB+ youth services, also known as the ‘Press 3 option,’ to focus on serving all help seekers, including those previously served through the ‘Press 3 option.’”
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline started in July 2022, two years after Trump signed the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, making 988 the universal number for the national suicide prevention line; the specialized LGBTQ+ hotline was rolled out in October of that year, per NBC News.
Nearly 1.5 million contacts were routed to the LGBTQ+ service since its launch, according to data on the SAMHSA website.
Trevor Project CEO Jaymes Black called the newest development “unfathomable,” adding in a statement, “This administration has made a dangerous decision to play politics with real young people’s lives.” The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth crisis intervention and suicide prevention organization, started as the sole provider of the specialized service; however, eventually seven providers were part of 988’s LGBTQ Youth Subnetwork. U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Massachusetts, who co-sponsored the legislation that paved the way for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, said, “Kids are going to die.” In addition, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler of New York said, “Cutting a program that is working, that is meeting a real and growing need, just does not make sense.”