• Posted June 20, 2025

Trump Administration To End Lifeline for LGBTQ+ Youth This July

FRIDAY, June 20, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A popular crisis support line for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults is shutting down July 17, federal officials confirmed this week.

The “Press 3” option on the 988 National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which offers specialized support for LGBTQ+ callers, will no longer be available. The same is true for the “PRIDE” text option, The Associated Press said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) said it made the decision to better serve all callers instead of separating services.

The decision was made to "no longer silo the services,” and “to focus on serving all help seekers, including those previously helped through the Press 3 option,” the agency said in a June 17 statement.

Since it launched in September 2022, the LGBTQ+ line has handled nearly 1.3 million calls, according to SAMHSA data.

LGBTQ+ advocates say the change puts vulnerable youth at greater risk.

“Suicide prevention is about people, not politics,” Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, a nonprofit that helps LGBTQ+ youth in crisis, told The AP. 

“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,” Black said.

The Trevor Project is one of seven groups that provide 988 crisis support services. It says it alone handled nearly half of the lifeline’s LGBTQ+ contacts.

While the “Press 3” option is going away, the Trevor Project will still operate its own 24/7 mental health services. Leaders of the 988 hotline say they remain committed to serving all callers with compassion, The AP said in its report.

Advocates also raised concerns that SAMHSA’s statement referred only to “LGB+ youth services,” leaving out the “T” for transgender people.

Black called the omission of the “T” representing transgender “callous,” The AP said. 

“Transgender people can never, and will never, be erased,” Black said.

The Trump administration action comes at a time when suicide rates in the U.S. are among the highest in the nation’s history. 

In 2023, there were 49,300 suicides nationwide, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

LGBTQ+ youth, especially transgender youth, are at higher risk. A 2024 CDC study found that 26% of transgender and gender-questioning students had attempted suicide in the past year, compared to 5% of cisgender boys and 11% of cisgender girls.

The LGBTQ+ 988 support program cost $33 million in fiscal year 2024, according to SAMHSA. 

The Trump administration’s proposed 2026 budget would keep 988’s total funding flat at $520 million, but eliminate the LGBTQ+ subprogram, The AP said.

President Donald Trump signed the law creating the  988 line in 2020. Since then, his policies have rolled back civil rights protections for transgender people and access to gender-affirming care.

The change also comes as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposes reshaping the agency behind 988. He wants to combine it and other programs into a new office called the "Administration for a Healthy America."

More information

People with suicidal thoughts, mental health struggles, alcohol or drug problems can call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Hotline for help.

SOURCE: The Associated Press, June 18, 2025