Content warning: This article discusses suicide. Months after reports of President Donald Trump administration’s plans to shutter the LGBTQ+ youth suicide hotline came out, it’s now confirmed to be happening. On June 17, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will be shutting down the LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services program offered by the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — a move set to take effect 30 days following this notice, on July 17, 2025.
This decision, directed by the Trump administration, has sparked national outcry from LGBTQ+ advocates, mental health professionals, and Gen Zers alike. The LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services program, launched in 2022, is a critical lifeline for LGBTQ+ youth in crisis, offering them the chance to speak with trained counselors who understand the unique challenges they face; according to the Trevor Project, LGBTQ+ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers — and this hotline was designed with that urgent reality in mind. The program allows young people up to age 25 to “press 3” or “reply PRIDE” when contacting the 988 Lifeline to be connected with counselors trained in LGBTQ+ mental health support. Since then, it has handled an estimated amount of 1.3 million crisis conversations, according to a SAMHSA report.
But advocates aren’t giving up on this lifeline yet. The Trevor Project — which currently responds to nearly half of all LGBTQ+ calls and texts to made to 988 — is launching a full-scale campaign to save the hotline before it is taken away. With the clock ticking, the org is calling on students, allies, and advocates to help urge Congress to stop the rollback of the program. Because this isn’t just a policy change — it is a matter of life and death.
“This is devastating, to say the least,” the Trevor Project’s CEO, Jaymes Black, said in a statement posted on the org’s website June 18. “Suicide prevention is about people, not politics.” Black also criticized the insensitivity of the announcement’s timing and language. “The fact that this news comes to us halfway through Pride Month is callous — as is the administration’s choice to remove the ‘T’ from the acronym ‘LGBTQ+’ in their announcement. Transgender people can never, and will never, be erased.”
In response, the Trevor Project has launched a petition and an Emergency Lifeline fundraising campaign to urge Congress to act to save the LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services program. “We are asking everyone to join the overwhelming public support for evidence-based crisis services,” Black said. “Congress can still act to reverse this fatal decision.”
While the future of the hotline remains unclear, one thing is certain: The Trevor Project will not back down. “I want every LGBTQ+ young person to know that you are worthy, you are loved, and you belong — despite this heartbreaking news,” Black added. “The Trevor Project’s crisis counselors are here for you 24/7, just as we always have been.”
If you or someone you know needs help or support, The Trevor Project’s trained crisis counselors are available 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386, via chat at TheTrevorProject.org/Get-Help, or by texting START to 678678.