posted April 22, 2025 07:21 PM            

Since the hotline’s launch in 2022, callers have been able to speak with counselors trained to work with specific at-risk populations, including LGBTQ youth, who are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers.

The service for LGBTQ youth has received 1.3 million calls, texts, or chats since 2022. In February, the program received an average of 2,100 contacts per day.

“Here we are cutting off the nation’s lifeline to those in crisis,” says Paolo del Vecchio, former director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s Office of Recovery. “Due to the discriminatory practices of the Trump administration, they’re pulling that life preserver away from thousands and thousands of people.”

Mental health experts say that trained counselors provide key cultural competency to LGBTQ youth, understanding the stress caused by recent political attacks, the importance of using appropriate pronouns, and the ways in which the youth often face lack of family support and harassment.

“I worry deeply that we will see more LGBTQ young people reach a crisis state and not have anyone there to help them through that,” says Janson Wu, director of advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor Project, a LGBTQ suicide prevention organization. “I worry that LGBTQ young people will reach out to 988 and not receive a compassionate and welcoming voice on the other end—and that will only deepen their crisis.”

The Trevor Project, one of the handful of organizations that make up the LGBTQ+ Youth Subnetwork, responds to about half of 988’s calls and texts from LGBTQ youth. This year, the subnetwork received an estimated $50 million in federal funding.

Trump’s first months in office have been particularly harrowing for transgender youth. The president has signed executive orders restricting access to gender-affirming care for young people, barring transgender people from serving in the military, and threatening to prosecute teachers who support nonbinary students.