White House to Cut 988 National LGBTQ Youth Crisis Hotline

According to a proposed budget document obtained by the Washington Post, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is planning to eliminate the national LGBTQ youth 988 crisis lifeline at the end of September.

Started in 2022, the hotline connects callers in crisis with counselors who are trained to work with Queer youth struggling with mental health. In 3 years, the hotline has fielded over a million calls, over 2,000 a month. Per Trevor Project, 41% of LGBTQIA+ teens have experienced suicidal ideologies, higher for non-binary and Trans youth, even higher for BIPOC youth.

Melanie Funchess, CEO/Principal Ubuntu Village Works a mental health expert with decades of experience serving BIPOC and QTPOC youth adds,

“Cutting the 988 LGBTQ youth crisis Hotline is tantamount to murder!! Our nation is facing a youth mental health crisis and to even think about removing a lifeline that we KNOW works and is used by our young people is egregious and beyond the pale. Our role as adults is society is to model and teach our youth. What is this teaching them?? That they don’t matter!! That their lives aren’t worth saving. Is this the message we want to send to our most vulnerable young people?”

Newly appointed Health and Human Service Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., under the prevue of Trump has made massive cuts to mental health, substance abuse, disability care, early childhood education, disease control programs, services and research.

The Trevor Project continues to and says it will continue to offer immediate crisis support. If you need to talk to someone, connect to a crisis counselor 24/7, 365 days a year, from anywhere in the U.S via text (text START to 678-678), chat (https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/), or phone (1-866-488-7386.) The Trevor Project is 100% confidential and 100% free.