The Trump administration is moving to restart the specialized LGBTQ+ option for youth who contact the 988 crisis intervention hotline, but the group that helped pioneer the idea is being shut out.
, the leading nonprofit for suicide prevention in LGBTQ+ young people, may not be allowed to offer the service it had helped develop for the 988 Lifeline just a few years ago.
The 988 hotline, which has been dubbed the , is credited with reducing suicide deaths. It offers specialized options for certain groups, such as veterans and Spanish speakers, but in July the Trump administration stopped offering the 鈥減ress 3鈥� option for LGBTQ+ youth .
The administration said it ended the service because the funding ran out. It is now working to bring it back by the end of the year because Congress directed officials to allocate $33 million toward LGBTQ+-specific interventions for youth.
However, The Trevor Project might not be allowed to offer the services it developed and specializes in.
Dr. Christine Yu Moutier, chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said it 鈥渨ould not make sense鈥� to keep The Trevor Project ineligible to help and it is a 鈥渓ong-standing, high-quality and trusted resource鈥� to LGBTQ+ people.
The development is the latest in what鈥檚 become a chaotic chapter for the service for LGBTQ+ youth, who attempt suicide at higher rates than the general population. Leaving The Trevor Project out is raising concerns about the relaunched service, especially given the Trump administration’s broader attempt to at a time when more of them are reaching out in crisis.
鈥淭he Trump administration never should have shut down the 鈥榩ress 3鈥� option and put young Americans at further risk,” said Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who has led a bipartisan push to restore the service. She called on the president to restore the service “without needless limitations and with the most qualified, experienced people answering the phone calls and text messages from these vulnerable young people.鈥�
The Trevor Project handled the bulk of 988’s LGBTQ+ youth services
The lifeline’s specialized service allowed people to press 3, text 鈥淧RIDE鈥� or use online chat to reach counselors who were specially trained to work with LGBTQ+ young people.
The umbrella of services broadly called the 鈥淧ress 3鈥� option fielded 1.6 million contacts while it was in operation, according to data from the . The Trevor Project handled about half of the program’s traffic.
When it canceled the 鈥淧ress 3鈥� option, federal officials said LGBTQ+ youth could still get help through 988鈥檚 general services, but it would 鈥渘o longer silo鈥� the services 鈥渢o focus on serving all help seekers,” including LGBTQ+ youth.
The relaunch of 鈥楶ress 3鈥� may not include The Trevor Project
Now, the nonprofit that administers the 988 service, Vibrant Emotional Health, has called for applications to manage the return of the 鈥淧ress 3鈥� lines.
But applications are limited to crisis centers that are 鈥渃urrent and active鈥� members of the 988 network. The Trevor Project is not currently active 鈥� only because the administration canceled the service it specialized in.
The six other crisis centers that worked on the LGBTQ+ youth program . They work with the general population as well as LGBTQ+ people. Only The Trevor Project had a specific mission to serve LGBTQ+ youth.
鈥淭his troubling development indicates a dangerous step toward degrading the clinical standards to serve high risk groups that the 鈥榩ress 3鈥� specialized services were founded on,鈥� said Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, in a statement to the AP.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services did not directly respond to questions about The Trevor Project鈥檚 eligibility, saying that the department is working with Vibrant to restore the service by the end of the year as directed by Congress.
Moutier said other crisis centers are providing high-quality care for LGBTQ+ youth. LGBTQ+ young people who are often marginalized and bullied need 鈥減sychological safety鈥� because they don’t always trust institutions to help them. She said it’s too soon to say she’s worried about the relaunch, but how it is brought back is just as important as the fact that it is.
鈥淚 think there’s the potential for great good, and some harm as well,鈥� she said.
Concerns shroud relaunch of the 鈥淧ress 3鈥� option
Even though the service itself may be restored, how it will operate is unclear 鈥� and LGBTQ+ advocates are concerned, in part because the Trump administration has indicated that its will influence how the program relaunches.
This month, a SAMHSA leader that the agency needed to assess the 鈥渕ost appropriate approach鈥� to restart the service while complying with a Trump executive order that , claiming 鈥済ender ideology extremism鈥� is a threat to women and declaring there are only two sexes.
The Trevor Project’s Black worries that the next iteration of 988’s LGBTQ+ youth services 鈥渕ay exclude transgender and nonbinary youth entirely.鈥� The organization still independently runs its own for LGBTQ+ young people.
Studies have shown that LGBTQ+ youth are at higher risk of suicide, including a that found 26% transgender and gender-questioning students attempted suicide in the past year. That鈥檚 compared with 5% of cisgender male and 11% of cisgender female students.
鈥淲hile anti-LGBTQ+ politics may be altering the very purpose of this lifeline created to help save young LGBTQ+ lives, it is critical to make clear that politics has no place in suicide prevention,鈥� Black said.
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