Federal Government Ends Specialized LGBTQ+ Youth Services on 988 Crisis Lifeline

On Thursday, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline's LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services program was formally shut down by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), ending a federal agreement that has been in place since 2022.

The decision removes the "text PRIDE" tool, "press 3" option, and online chat links that used to direct callers under 25 to counselors who had received specialized training in assisting LGBTQ+ kids. The main hotline system will now be used for all 988 Lifeline contacts.

The bipartisan National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, which President Trump signed into law in 2020, established the specialized service in 2022 as a component of the 988 Lifeline system. The law assigned SAMHSA the responsibility of creating specific programs for high-risk groups, acknowledging that the suicide rates among young LGBTQ Americans are disproportionately high.

Nearly 1.5 million phone calls, texts, and online chat messages have been sent to the service since it began. In April, the most recent month for which data was available, crisis counselors processed almost 70,000 interactions, which is a record high for the service.

In 2024, The Trevor Project handled almost 231,000 crisis contacts across all of its services, answering about half of the 988 calls and texts from LGBTQ youth.

An estimated 1.5 million LGBTQ+ kids who have used these specialized services are impacted by the cancellation. A 2024 Trevor Project study found that 46% of transgender and nonbinary kids and 39% of LGBTQ people in the U.S. aged 13 to 24 said they had seriously considered suicide in the previous 12 months. When asked if they could get mental health care, half of LGBTQ youth replied they couldn't.

Jaymes Black, CEO of the Trevor Project, described the decision as "devastating" and stated that the organization is now using fundraising methods to make up for the millions of dollars that the federal government is projected to withdraw. In reaction to the closure, the organization has started a petition drive and Emergency Lifeline Campaign.

States and mental health organizations are getting ready for the closure's effects, according to Mark Henson, vice president of government affairs at the Trevor Project. "When the line goes silent, there are a lot of open questions that we're trying to prepare for," he said.

The shutdown coincides with more extensive policy changes that impact LGBTQ+ services. In its statement to remove the specialized service, SAMHSA mentioned assisting "LGB+ youth," eliminating the term "transgender" from the acronym that had previously had that distinction.

Members of Congress have criticized the decision, with over 100 House members and seven senators voicing their concerns. The decision has been openly opposed by Representative Dan Goldman and Governor Kathy Hochul of New York.

According to Adrian Shanker, a former administration senior adviser on LGBTQ health equity at the Department of Health and Human Services, the specialized service was "incredibly successful" and the removal was ill-timed, considering the growing number of societal factors influencing the need for such services.

The Trevor Project stressed that it will continue to provide crisis services on its own without the assistance of the federal program. LGBTQ+ kids can still get help under the organization through different methods.

Inauguration Day saw a 33 percent increase in calls, according to the Trevor Project, after Election Day saw a higher increase. The organization keeps running its crisis services while looking for other financing sources to take the place of the federal collaboration.

A federal program that offered specialized crisis intervention services to one of the groups with the highest suicide risk rates in the US has been closed, thereby leaving many people in the nation to wonder what this means for LGBT youth in the future.