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The Hill
9 hours ago
- Health
- The Hill
Trump administration to shutter LGBTQ+ youth suicide hotline
PRESENTED BY The Big Story The Trump administration has given a crisis hotline for LGBTQ+ youth 30 days to shut down and stakeholders as well as lawmakers are speaking out against the move. © The Associated Press While the White House had signaled earlier this year that it would no longer fund the LGBTQ youth service, 'Press 3 option,' of the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline starting in 2026, it had said funding for the rest of this year would remain unchanged. But the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced Tuesday it would 'no longer silo' the program. 'The Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus included a Congressional directive for $29.7 million to fund the specialized service,' the agency said in a statement. 'Federal funding in FY24 for the Press 3 services increased to $33 million. As of June 2025, more than $33 million in funds have been spent to support the subnetworks, fully expending the monies allocated for 988 Lifeline LGB+ subnetwork services.' The Health Department's annual budget 'does not, however, grant taxpayer money to a chat service where children are encouraged to embrace radical gender ideology by 'counselors' without consent or knowledge of their parents,' said Rachel Cauley, a spokesperson for the White House's Office of Management and Budget. The Trevor Project, which responds to roughly half of 988 calls and texts from LGBTQ+ youth, said it had received a stop-work order from the Trump administration. 'This is devastating, to say the least. Suicide prevention is about people, not politics,' said Jaymes Black, the Trevor Project's CEO. '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.' GOP Rep. Mike Lawler (N.Y.) also spoke out against the move, saying on Wednesday, 'This is wrong,' adding that 'the 988 hotline has been a lifesaver.' Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel, Joseph Choi and Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. Essential Reads How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond: Democrats, major medical groups denounce Supreme Court gender-affirming care ruling Democratic leaders and professional medical organizations on Wednesday denounced the Supreme Court's ruling upholding a 2023 Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a decision the high court delivered along ideological lines that stands to impact similar laws passed in roughly half the country. The high court's three Democratic-appointed justices dissented with the conservative majority. Justice Sonia … FDA approves 6-month HIV prevention shot Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences announced Wednesday the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its six-month, twice-yearly HIV PrEP injection, which was found in trials to be more than 99.9 percent effective among participants. Gilead's product Yeztugo, a form of lenacapavir, was approved for reducing the risk of sexually acquired HIV in adults and adolescents when injected twice a year. Lenacapavir is … GOP Rep. Lawler: Trump cutting LGBTQ youth suicide hotline is 'wrong' Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said Wednesday that the Trump administration's decision to cut the LGBTQ youth suicide hotline is 'wrong.' 'This is wrong. According to studies, LGBTQ+ young people have an elevated risk of suicide and are more likely than their peers to attempt it. We should ensure they have the resources necessary to get help,' Lawler said in a post on social platform X. 'The 988 hotline has been a lifesaver. … In Other News Branch out with a different read from The Hill: Obama: US 'dangerously close' to moving toward autocracy Former President Obama warned on Tuesday the current political climate isn't 'consistent' with American democracy. 'It is consistent with autocracies,' Obama told a crowd in Hartford, Conn., where he spoke about the growing threat posed under the Trump administration, according to Connecticut Public Radio. A MESSAGE FROM ALLIANCE FOR AGING RESEARCH Around the Nation Local and state headlines on health care: What We're Reading Health news we've flagged from other outlets: What Others are Reading Most read stories on The Hill right now: Senate GOP leader faces pushback after members blindsided by Trump bill Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is facing strong pushback from members of the GOP conference over the Finance Committee's piece of … Read more 5 takeaways from Tucker Carlson's interview with Ted Cruz Pundit Tucker Carlson published a nearly two-hour interview with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Wednesday, during which the two conservative firebrands … Read more What People Think Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill: You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!
UPI
11 hours ago
- Health
- UPI
Trump administration ending LGBTQ suicide hotline in July
Supporters of the LGBTQ community march to the U.S. Capitol on June 8. A specialized suicide lifeline for the LGBTQ community is ending on July 17. Photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI | License Photo June 18 (UPI) -- The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline no longer will offer a specialized service for LGBTQ callers as of July 17. The Trump administration issued a stop-work order to the non-profit Trevor Project, which has operated the specialized 988 LGBTQ suicide lifeline since 2022, the New York Times reported. Officials with the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration confirmed the stop-work order calls for the hotline to cease operation on July 17. Suicide prevention services remain available, but there no longer will be a "Press 3 option" for LGBTQ callers. "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," SAMHSA officials said in a prepared statement. Trevor Project Chief Executive Officer Jaymes Black said the end of the specialized hotline is very bad for the LGBTQ community. "This is devastating, to say the least," Black told The Hill. "Suicide prevention is about people, not politics." He called the specialized hotline a "bipartisan, evidence-based service that has effectively supported a high-risk group of young people through their darkest moments is incomprehensible." The LGBTQ suicide prevention service was established in 2022 to address the needs of respective callers, many of whom "experience distinct mental health issues," the New York Times reported. Such issues include discrimination and rejection by family members, which contributes to high suicide rates within the LGBTQ community. SAMHSA officials said the Press 3 service option received $29.7 million in federal funding for the 2023 fiscal year and $33 million for each of the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years. The specialized hotline's entire 2025 budget was spent as of June, and no more funding is coming, according to SAMHSA. The suicide prevention hotline will get the same $520 million in funding for the 2026 fiscal year as it did for 2025, Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman Rachel Cauley told NBC News. The budget won't "grant taxpayer money to a chat service where children are encouraged to embrace radical gender ideology by 'counselors' without consent or knowledge of their parents," Cauley said. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline was established in 2005, and President Donald Trump in 2020 signed legislation establishing the specialized service for LGBTQ callers. The specialized service received about 1.3 million calls, texts and online chat messages since 2022, according to SAMHSA. It also received an average of 2,100 contacts every day in February.
CNN
13 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
Trump administration to end 988 suicide prevention specialized service for LGBTQ+ youth in July
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline's specialized services for LGBTQ+ youth will no longer be operation starting July 17, according to a statement from the US Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The administration said in its statement that everyone who contacts the 988 lifeline will continue to receive access to crisis counselors who can help with suicidal, substance misuse or mental health crises, or any other kind of emotional distress, but there will no longer be the LGBTQ+ specialized services. Soon after its launch in July 2022, the 988 Lifeline included a subnetwork for LGBTQ+ individuals to connect with specialized services, in which people dialing 988 are given the option to press 3 to reach crisis counselors trained to work with LGBTQ+ youth and adults under 25. According to the latest data from SAMHSA, more than 14.5 million people have called, texted or sent chats to the 988 Lifeline and have been transferred to a crisis contact center since July 2022. Nearly 1.3 million of those were routed to the LGBTQ+ specialized service. 'On July 17, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline will no longer silo LGB+ youth services, also known as the 'Press 3 option,' to focus on serving all help seekers, including those previously served through the Press 3 option,' SAMHSA's statement said Tuesday. 'The Press 3 option was established as a pilot program in Fiscal Year 2022 under a government agreement with a third party. The Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus included a Congressional directive for $29.7 million to fund the specialized services. Federal funding in FY24 for the Press 3 services increased to $33 million,' the statement said. 'As of June 2025, more than $33 million in funds have been spent to support the subnetworks, fully expending the monies allocated for 988 Lifeline LGB+ subnetwork services.' In October 2020, President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan bill making 988 the universal telephone number to reach the national suicide prevention hotline. About two years later, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline launched under the Biden administration, transitioning what was a 10-digit number to an easier-to-remember three-digit number. People seeking emotional and mental health support can dial 988 for help in the same way they might dial 911 for medical emergencies. Since 2022, the federal government has invested some $1.5 billion in the 988 project, including expanding access to services for Spanish speakers, LGBTQ+ youth and young adults, and people who are deaf or hard of hearing by creating sub-lifelines or sub-networks for those groups. Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and the former Baltimore Health Commissioner, told CNN's Pamela Brown that the 988 suicide prevention hotline service should be a " bipartisan, nonpartisan initiative to get services to as many people as need them, including LGBTQ individuals." The administration is considering eliminating the service as a way to cut back on funding for next year's discretionary budget for mental health, according to an internal document reviewed by CNN. This month, the Trump administration officially proposed to eliminate the 988 Lifeline's LGBTQ+ youth services in budget plans for fiscal year 2026. While some supporters of the move may view it as an efficient way to save spending, critics have called it 'deeply upsetting.' 'It is deeply upsetting to see the administration reverse course on an evidence-backed, bipartisan program that has successfully provided life-saving crisis care to 1.3 million LGBTQ+ young people, and counting,' Jaymes Black, CEO of the nonprofit The Trevor Project, said in a news release last week when the proposed budget was posted. The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, has been a subcontractor to the specialized service since 2022, serving as one of seven call centers. 'We are grateful to the many people who continue to urge this administration and Congress to protect access to these life-saving services alongside us. In a nation where our children's tears fall without distinction of how they identify, we must rise with one voice – across every faith, every belief, and every political line – now is the time for the full volume of our conviction,' Black said in part. 'Now is the time to act.' Some Democratic lawmakers have spoken out against retiring 988's specialized services for LGBTQ+ youth, including Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin. She said in a statement Wednesday that the Trump administration's plan to cut the specialized services comes at a time when it is estimated that nearly 40% of LGBTQ+ young people have reported seriously considering attempting suicide in the past year. In 2019, Baldwin, along with Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO), Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Jack Reed (D-RI), introduced the legislation to designate a three-digit phone number for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline. 'I worked hard to stand up a special line for LGBTQ+ youth because we are losing too many of our kids to suicide, and it's well past time we did something about it. Children facing dark times and even contemplating taking their life often have nowhere else to turn besides this 988 Lifeline, and the Trump Administration is cruelly and needlessly taking that away,' Baldwin said in the statement. 'During Pride Month, a time to celebrate the progress we've made, the Trump Administration is taking us a step back and telling LGBTQ+ kids that they don't matter and don't deserve help when they are in crisis,' Baldwin said. 'This is not the final chapter of this story, and I'll fight tooth and nail to protect these children.'
