The Trump administration has ordered the end of federal funding for a national LGBTQ+ suicide prevention hotline, effective Thursday.
The Trevors Project, a LGBTQ+ suicide hotline, received a notice, back in June, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline “will 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.”
“This is devastating, to say the least. Suicide prevention is about people, not politics,” Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, said in a statement. “The administration’s decision to remove a bipartisan, evidence-based service that has effectively supported a high-risk group of young people through their darkest moments is incomprehensible.”
For family advocacy groups and law enforcement, this is a victory. Concerns over the Trevor Project have been raised by people performing undercover operations on the project’s online website, TrevorSpace, a platform that encourages LGBTQ+ youth ages 13 to 24 to connect and share personal stories. They said they discovered the site could leave children vulnerable to online predators.
Those investigating the website reported they found adults were able to create accounts, bypass age verification and immediately begin private conversations with minors surrounding sexually charged topics, without any real-time oversight.
Beth Bourne, a mom questioning gender ideology in California schools, posted on X a phone call she had exposing what the Trevor Project Suicide Hotline said to her as she went undercover posing as a 15-year-old transgender boy.
“I told the Trevor Project crisis counselor that my mom misgendered me and made me feel unsafe at home. I asked if moving into my softball coach’s house was a good idea as he promised to help me get online ‘T’ (testosterone) and my breasts removed (top surgery),” Bourne wrote. “The Trevor Project counselor said it sounded like a great plan. Insanity.”
The Center Square reached out to The Trevor Project for comment amid these security concerns, but has not received a response.
To push back against the federal administration’s actions, California lawmakers have taken steps to ensure LGBTQ+ students have access to the help they need.
Assembly Bill 727, authored by California Assemblyman Mark Gonzalez, D-Los Angeles, in effort to combat LGBTQ+ mental health crisis, would require the Trevor Project suicide hotline be printed on the back of all public school student ID cards for grades 7 through college.
“This federal government is determined to erase LGBTQ+ Americans by any means necessary,” said Gonzalez. “Youth suicide prevention should be a bipartisan priority. Instead, our community — especially our youth — is being used as a pawn by political opportunists chasing headlines and social media clout. I am proud to fight for my community because these cuts are more than a political decision — lives are on the line.”
Additionally Gov. Gavin Newsom got the Legislature’s support to allocate $17.5 million in funding to support the 988 State Suicide and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund.
“Cutting off a proven lifeline for people in need is outrageous and inexcusable,” said Newsom. “While this federal administration slashes services and tries to erase LGBTQ people, California will do the opposite. Every child — straight, gay, transgender — belongs.”
