Trump Cuts LGBTQ+ Support Service From Suicide Hotline

Topline

Support for LGBTQ+ callers to the national suicide prevention hotline will end next month, the Trump administration confirmed Wednesday, ending a counseling service first introduced in legislation during President Donald Trump’s first term.

The suicide prevention hotline will “no longer silo” its services and will instead “focus on serving … More all help seekers,” officials said.

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Key Facts

The Trevor Project, a nonprofit that provided support to LGBTQ+ callers in a partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said Wednesday the Trump administration ordered the specialized line to be closed by July 17.

SAMHSA confirmed the order and referred Forbes to a statement, indicating the specialized support was closed to “no longer silo” the hotline’s services and to “focus on serving all help seekers.”

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s number became 988 under legislation signed by Trump in 2020, though the bill also required the hotline to provide LGBTQ+ youth and young adults with “specially trained staff and partner organizations,” citing increased suicide ideation among LGBTQ+ youth.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told the New York Times that direct congressional funding for the LGBTQ+ service was depleted, and additional funding would jeopardize the entire hotline.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ proposed 2026 budget included $520 million in funds for 988, but it also ended government funding for LGBTQ+ counseling.

Big Number

$50 million. That’s how much the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ service previously received in federal funding, according to the Trevor Project.

Crucial Quote

“This is devastating, to say the least,” Jaymes Black, the Trevor Project’s CEO, said in a statement, adding, “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.”

Chief Critic

More than 100 Democratic House members signed a letter in May requesting Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to continue congressional funding for 988’s LGBTQ+ service. They cited Trump’s “shortsighted and dangerous plan” they claimed would prevent support for “a population with a higher risk of suicide” in a move that could have “lethal consequences if enacted.” Seven Senators, all Democrats, signed a similar letter to Kennedy arguing the “elimination of specialized services specifically designed for at-risk youth is irresponsible.”

Key Background

Ending a specialized service for LGBTQ+ callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline comes as the Trump administration has cut funding for research on LGBTQ+ health. More than $800 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health were cut through May, the Times reported, including hundreds of studies related to LGBTQ+ health. A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s cuts to research grants earlier this week, ruling the move “represents racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community.” Trump has issued several executive orders targeting transgender people, including orders declaring the U.S. would recognize male and female as the only sexes, prohibiting enlistment in the military and barring trans girls and women from competing on female sports teams.