Trump administration ends LGBTQ Youth option on US suicide hotline

After the Trump administration cut its funding, a part of the US National Suicide Prevention Hotline that completes for the youth of LGBTQ will soon be closed.

The administration has accused the service of “radical gender ideology”.

It states that it will still fund a comprehensive 988 suicide and crisis lifeline – from which the LGBTQ youth option is a part – and that all collectors will get “compassion and help”.

The Trevor Project, an organization that helped run the LGBTQ option, said the decision would have a harmful effect on the weak young people.

Jayams Black, CEO of the organization, said, “Suicide prevention is about people, not politics,” said James Black, CEO of the organization. He said that his service was asked to be closed within 30 days.

Mr. Black said, “The administration's decision to remove a bilateral, evidence-based service that has effectively supported a high-risk group of young people through its dark moments.”

This decision comes during the month of International Gaurav, which celebrates LGBTQ culture and history.

This news also came forward from a decision of the US Supreme Court on Tuesday, which upheld Tennessy's ban on transition-related healthcare for minors identified as transgender.

Normal 988 provides free mental health assistance through lifeline calls, texts or chats. It is funded by the Drug Consumption and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a subsidiary of US Health and Human Services Agency (HHS).

Currently, LGBTQ can select option 3 from the call menu to join the young counselor.

After the changes, the remaining 988 lifeline services “will focus on the service of all support seekers”, the first of which was selected to reach LGBTQ youth services, SAMHSA said.

But the hotline “now will not be Silo LGB+ Youth Services”, SAMHSA wrote in a statement, “T” and “Q”, which refers to transgender and quir people in the brief name of LGBTQ.

HHS officials proposed to cut the 988 lifeline LGBTQ youth services last week.

In a statement by NBC News at the time, an HHS spokesperson described the option as a “chat service, where children are encouraged to embrace the radical gender ideology by 'counselors' without consent or without knowledge of their parents.

The Vidhan passed by the US Congress in 2020 required 988 lifelines to provide services and employees, especially LGBTQ people as well as other risk groups such as rural and original Americans.

The law stated that LGBTQ youth “were 4 times the possibility of considering suicide than their peers, 1 of 5 LGBTQ youth and more than 1 of 3 transgender youth who attempted suicide.

The law received bilateral support – which also included Donald Trump, who was then serving his first presidential post, and signed the bill in the law.

According to the 988 Lifeline website, the LGBTQ community is at risk for suicide and other mental health conflicts due to historical and ongoing structural violence. “

The Trevor Project began to provide its services in 2022 through 988 lifelines. In 2024, it served over 231,000 crisis contacts, the organization said in a statement. It says that it will continue to provide its independent services.

The decision to abolish the 988 Lifeline's nominated LGBTQ Youth option comes amid Tram's federal government in Trump's Federal government for services, support and Trump's push for access.

He has pushed to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion policies (DEIs) within the federal government, arguing that such programs themselves are discriminatory.

The President has also ordered the removal of transgender services from the US Army and issued an executive order that the US will recognize only two sexes – men and women.

The US State Department also announced that it would no longer allow applicants to choose “X” as their gender on American passports. Instead, transgender individuals have to choose “male” or “female” according to the sex assigned at birth.

If you are suffering from crisis or despair and need support, you can talk to a health professional, or an outfit that provides support. The aid of the assistance available in many countries can be found in Befriends worldwide. www.befrienders.org

A list of organizations in the UK that can help is available on bbc.co.uk/actionline