After the “Press 3” option offering resources for LGBTQ+ youth was unceremoniously dropped from the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in July 2025, U.S. legislators did not take long to try reinstating the funding. Funding for the option was quickly added to a piece of existing legislation, $33.1 million dollars was appropriated to pay for it, and President Donald Trump even signed that legislation.
But even with the funding in place, the Trump administration has yet to reinstate Press 3.
The function was widely utilized after it was put into place in 2022. By the time it was removed, the option had allowed for 1.6 million contacts from youths seeking assistance, noted U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who has been publicly calling for the reinstatement of Press 3.
“These [phone calls] were by people on perhaps of the worst days of their life, at the worst hour of their day, reaching out for someone in the darkness often, to help save their life,” Krishnamoorthi said, speaking at a Sept. 10 press conference at the Chicago headquarters of National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 224 W. Hill St. “Unfortunately, too many people in our state and our country need this service.”
Experts say that about 40% of LGBTQ+ youth contemplate dying by suicide. Krishnamoorthi noted that the Sept. 10 gathering was the fourth meeting that had been convened to call for Press 3’s return, so that callers can easily be directed to LGBTQ+-centric resources.
He said, “Yet again we meet, to call upon the Trump administration to do the people’s will, to turn on this Press 3 function, and I can say that we’re not going to stop calling upon them to do this, and we’re going to continue to put the pressure on them until it’s turned back on.”
The State of Illinois’ 988 lines currently steer individuals seeking assistance to phones operated by NAMI; the organization runs six phone banks in the state, and the majority of their calls come from Cook County. Last year, about 173,000 calls were answered in Illinois.
“We know that everyone deserves help, no matter their identity, and that support should be tailored to meet their cultural needs,” said Illinois Secretary of Human Services Dulce Quintero, who added that about 98% of those calls were resolved without further intervention needed. The Department of Human Services arranged for all Illinois 988 operators to be trained on responses for LGBTQ+ issues through the West Hollywood-based Trevor Project.
“Whoever answers…can effectively support everyone who calls,” Quintero said.
Keygan Miller, a Minneapolis-based public trainer for Trevor Project said, “It’s important that, when we’re framing this, that we don’t talk about LGBTQ youth as having increased mental health [issues] or suicidality just for being who they are. Rather, they are placed at higher risk because of the mistreatments that they face from society. That’s a very important distinction.”
Equality Illinois CEO Channyn Lynne Parker added, “This administration for some unknown reason sees suicidality as a symptom of one’s identity or orientation, as opposed to the reality that it is a systemic failure—and such an unnecessary one—in the times that we are in, seeing as how we fought so hard to be where we’re at. Now it appears that we’re being rolled back to a place that we don’t have to be.”
Krishnamoorthi introduced legislation in the House that would permanently reinstate the Press 3 option. U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced similar legislation in the Senate.
At the Sept. 10 meeting, Krishnamoorthi said he and his colleagues are weighing as many different options as possible, but members of the public will likely have to pressure elected representatives to push for Press 3’s return.
He added that the issue needs to be “on the ballot” in the upcoming midterm elections, asking, “Where does your elected official—or somebody who aspires to be an elected official—stand on this issue? Are they in favor of Press 3 or not? I respectfully request every single person to ask that of the candidates who are running for office. … This is a life or death issue; this is not a political issue.”