Trevor Project: End of LGBTQ+ Suicide Hotline Could Be “Life and Death”

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Now, at home, the Trump administration recently announced that it would axe funding for a crucial suicide prevention hotline, citing that it encourages, quote, “radical gender ideology.” The Trevor Project calls this a devastating blow for its LGBTQ plus community, because the hotline has provided help to as many as 1.3 million young people since 2022. Mark Henson is the director of Federal Advocacy and Government Affairs at the organization, and he speaks to Hari Sreenivasan about the impact of this decision.

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HARI SREENIVASAN, CORRESPONDENT: Christiane, thanks Mark Henson, thanks so much for joining us. For people who might not be familiar with how the Crisis Hotline 988 works, especially when it comes to LGBTQ plus individuals, just kind of break it down for us.

MARK HENSON, DIRECTOR OF FEDERAL ADVOCACY AND GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS, THE TREVOR PROJECT: Sure. Thank you for having me on to talk about this important issue. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Prevention Hotline is a free 24/7 national resource that launched about three years ago to support anyone who was in crisis. The legislation that enabled this created the easy to remember 988 moniker. And it also set aside funding for two specific groups that have higher risk of suicide than the general population. So, if one dials 988 and waits to be connected to the general line, they’re connected to a center that is in their state who is able to help talk them through crisis and help give them the support resources. If they press one, they’re connected to the veteran’s crisis line because the veteran population has higher risk of suicide than the general civilian population because of the unique experiences they face. And similarly, if someone impresses three, they’re connected to the LGBTQ Plus Youth Specialized Services Hotline, where trained counselors who understand the drivers of suicidality for LGBTQ plus youth based off their unique experiences are able to provide tailored services.

SREENIVASAN: And when they get to, if they do press three, who are they speaking with? Is it a group of different nonprofits that are trained in this? Is it just one?

HENSON: The LGBTQ Plus Youth Sub Network is comprised of seven different nonprofits across the country that have handled so far 1.3 million contacts to this line in a little less than three years. The Trevor Project that I work for, the nation’s leading provider of suicide prevention services for LGBTQ plus youth is proud to have piloted this nonprofit and handles the majority of the traffic. But when folks do press that — press three number, they’re connected to one of hundreds of counselors across the United States who understands the experiences that they’ve gone through, the language that they often use to describe themselves and describe the pain that they’ve experienced and help them get through to live to see a better tomorrow.

SREENIVASAN: And can we just kind of put this in perspective here? I think at 1.3 million calls might be an abstract idea for people, but what kinds of calls are you getting on a daily basis? I mean, even if you say 60,000 a month, that’s hard to break down. But is that high? Is that normal? Is that average? I mean, you know, tell me.

HENSON: Well, again, talking about cumulative volume, the demand has been rising. In the month of February, which is the last month that we have data, there was about 60,000 calls per month. That’s about one every one and a half minutes from an LGBTQ plus youth in crisis in the United States seeking services. And if you extrapolate that, you get hundreds of thousands of calls per year. Demand continues to rise because of the acute mental health crisis in our country. As far as the individual calls that come in, it really depends upon what the LGBTQ plus youth are facing. Sometimes people need a little bit of help navigating how to come out to their families, so when they’re identifying as LGBTQ plus. Sometimes if their families have rejected them, they’re experiencing potential issues of homelessness or loneliness or family estrangement. There are also times where even hearing upon anti-LGBTQ plus policies can really set folks on edge. For example, our research has found that transgender youth when faced with anti-LGBTQ plus policies within different states, it could have an up to 72 percent increased chance for suicidality. And there are, again, particular unique issues that LGBTQ plus youth face that our counselors are trained to understand, empathize, and again, help give them the mental health supports to live to see a better tomorrow.

SREENIVASAN: OK. So, part of why we’re having this conversation now is, really, it comes down to politics and budgets. What is supposed to happen to this service that you’ve just described as of July 17th?

HENSON: That’s right. As of July 17th, the Trump administration has said that they’re going to end the LGBTQ Plus Youth Specialized Services Subnetwork. They’ve indicated that with about three short weeks away, this critical program that has served over a million people with demand rising would no longer be available to have trained counselors there and supporting. And to your point, you know, there are lots of different policies and lots of different politics that people can disagree on, including some aspects of LGBTQ plus policy. But we here at the Trevor Project believe suicide prevention is about people, not about politics. Every independent, Republican, and Democrat that I know believes that we should set aside politics when it comes to saving young people’s lives.

SREENIVASAN: What was the rationale for why this should be shut down? Because technically, the 988 line will still work, right? And if I call, I will — if I’m a veteran, let’s say, I will still be able to press one, but I won’t be able to press three, correct?

HENSON: That is correct. One of the rationales that have been expressed is that separating folks by identity drives polarization. However, that doesn’t recognize that suicide prevention is about risk, not about identity. LGBTQ plus youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide as their peers. This is not because they are LGBTQ plus, but because they experience stigma, bullying, loneliness, where specialized and tailored services are able to help support. What’s particularly ironic is the original legislation that created this line was signed by President Trump unanimously passed the Senate and had — and has strong bipartisan support in Congress. So, this rationale that they’re putting forward now goes against the understanding that they had when these services were put available and really undermines President Trump’s legacy on mental health from his first term.

SREENIVASAN: Now, the administration released a statement in part that says, everyone who contacts the 988 Lifeline will continue to receive access to skilled, caring, culturally competent crisis counselors who can help with suicidal substance misuse or mental health crises, or any other kind of emotional distress. So, help me understand. What is the cultural competency that the existing counselors when you press three have that might be missing in a few weeks?

HENSON: To be clear, as you said, 988 is not going away. 988 will still be available for mental health emergencies and suicide prevention to every American, including LGBTQ plus youth. But as you said, within an LGBTQ plus youth dials into the regular number, the counselor may be well-intentioned, but what if they’re unfamiliar with the coming out process? What if they’re unfamiliar with pronouns or accidentally misgender a youth that reaches out? The counselors on the LGBTQ Plus Youth Sub Network are trained in the drivers of suicidality and the experiences that LGBTQ plus youth face, including family estrangement, isolation. And that helps them create a bond of empathy and trust with the LGBTQ plus youth. Hari, as you might have experienced, if you have a bunch of positive experiences with a medical professional, but then you just have one really negative one, that makes it far less likely that you can seek support in the future, including, and especially mental health support. The LGBTQ plus youth population in the United States have strong experience with rejection and with fear. One other note, the Trevor Project’s research has indicated that 84 percent of LGBTQ plus youth in the United States want to access mental healthcare, but only half of them were able to in the last year. The number one reason was fear. Fear of not being understood. Fear of having their problems minimized or rejected, fear of being outed to their parents, families, friends before they were ready. And so, therefore, not having these LGBTQ plus counselors means those resources may not be available. And suicide prevention is about minutes. It’s about tailoring specific services that can mean the difference between life and death. I’d also reiterate that what message are LGBTQ plus youth who have used this service over a million so far receiving when their government says, nope, these proven bipartisan services are no longer available to you. We know that they’ve worked, but we don’t want to have them anymore. That message in and of itself is damaging. And again, makes it less likely the LGBTQ plus youth would even reach out to seek support.

SREENIVASAN: A spokesperson for the HHS said that, look, this section has run out of congressionally directed funding. Right now, we have all these silos. The entire mission of 988 and crisis prevention is compromised if we can’t do this. Is that reasonable?

HENSON: I wouldn’t say that’s reasonable, and I wouldn’t say that that’s accurate. There’s significant flexibility right now to reallocate funding for these vital services that have proven that they have worked. I’ll also note that it’s only LGBTQ plus youth services that are under threat. In addition to continuing to provide veterans care, they continue to create a Spanish language option, and there are other services such as for the deaf and the hard of hearing to ensure accessibility. It would be a relatively simple endeavor to reallocate funding to continue these services for another two and a half months in this fiscal year and to have at a relatively low cost the ability to save tens of thousands of lives.

SREENIVASAN: Let’s just say for the sake of this conversation that all the call volumes stay the same. If you no longer have the option to press three and get to this subgroup of counselors, doesn’t that make the existing group of counselors sort of more taxed? Right. I mean, unless you add more counselors in for the general population, so to speak, this is gonna mean longer hold times. Is that reasonable?

HENSON: Yes. I would agree with that. And I’d say kind of two, two responses on that point. Yes, there will be a segment of the 60,000 LGBTQ plus youth per month who do continue to use 988, and will be redirected to states that will, on a state basis, increase the numbers. Now, the administration notes that funding is the same, but the administration just gave only four weeks for states to adjust headcounts, to potentially hire and train counselors. This is a very short period of time with, to my knowledge, little to no plan to account for the increase of volume at the at the state level, is again, a, a strong argument for keeping these services at minimum through the end of this fiscal year. Further, I’d like to talk a little bit about the population of those 60,000 LGBTQ plus youth contacts who won’t feel comfortable using 988 because of the anti LGBTQ policies that this administration has put out. And because this service has gone away. What about that population? Will they know to reach out to other services like the Trevor Project, which will continue operating its own crisis lifelines as it has for the last 27 years? And will that increase the, the work output and the pressure on our counselors? Will they know about other resources, or will they just not reach out to any mental health lifeline when they are in crisis?

SREENIVASAN: You notice the letter T has been almost structurally removed from several of the government websites. When it says LGBTQ plus, now it just, a lot of places just says LGB. Is that a significant difference?

HENSON: Yes. Hari, the attempted erasure of transgender and non-binary people is a significant difference, and once again, sends a a, a pretty awful message. As you note even in the release where they would end the suicide prevention lifeline, they chose to call it the LBG plus, instead of the LGBTQ plus lifeline. Transgender people will never be erased and can never be erased, and it sends a terrible message to an especially vulnerable population. We here at the Trevor Project estimate that every year, 39% of LGBTQ plus youth seriously consider suicide. That number escalates for the transgender and non-binary population. And all of our metrics indicate that they’re at greater risk for suicidality than the general population. So by actively attempting to erase transgender youth, even for suicide prevention, the administration is playing with fire and putting lives in danger.

SREENIVASAN: You know, there’s one rationale that the administration has said that this is about dollars and cents. And then there’s another vein here that I want to read a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget said, the proposed budget wouldn’t grant taxpayer money to a chat service where children are encouraged to embrace radical gender ideology by, quote, “counselors” without consent or knowledge of their parents. How do you respond to that?

HENSON: That is categorically untrue and quite frankly, offensive. LGBTQ plus youth reach out to this lifeline when they’re in crisis and they need help. And our counselors listen to their concerns. Our counselors try to help them stay alive for another day and empathize with them, understanding the particular drivers of suicidality, the experiences they’ve had, the stigma that’s been created. Our counselors don’t give medical referrals. Our counselors don’t practice politics. They listen to LGBTQ plus young people, hear what they’re saying and help give them the tools to stay alive. That rationale from the administration is offensive, and again, attempts to erase the experiences of transgender and non-binary youth and really, you know, sidelines LGBTQ plus youth across the board.

SREENIVASAN: Look, the Trevor Project has decided to kind of respond to these funding cuts with a petition. Tell me a little bit about what you’re asking for in the petition and what kind of response you’ve gotten.

HENSON: Absolutely. Thank you, Hari. And in response to this, the Trevor Project has worked with mental health groups, veterans groups, allies across the board to push back against this proposal to get the administration change its mind, and to have Congress step up and both pushback of the administration and assert its priority of allocating spending to key programs. Before I continue on the petition, Congress continues to have strong bipartisan support for these programs. Multiple House Republicans and Senate Republicans have issued statements in support of these continued programming. Many of them, along with all of their Democratic colleagues have pushed for these services over the last five years, we’re just asking them to stand up and to make sure that that they continue. The Trevor Project particularly launched this petition, calling on Congress and the administration to save these services, and there’s been tremendous response across the country. This past Tuesday, there were 17,000 folks who had responded to it. As of today, there are more than double that. The news of this program being shut down in four short weeks has mobilized people all across the country to tell Congress fund these programs, to tell the administration, don’t take away this lifeline for vulnerable LGBTQ plus youth. And they’ve shared their stories about how vital these services are and how they’ve saved lives, including their own.

SREENIVASAN: Mark Henson, director of the Federal Advocacy and Government Affairs for the Trevor Project, thanks so much for joining us.

HENSON: Thank you.

SREENIVASAN: We have talked about some difficult topics in this conversation, including suicide, and if this is something that throws you into crisis, know that one, you aren’t alone. And two, that there are places like 988 that will still take your calls. And of course, you can find the Trevor Project online.