President Donald Trump’s administration officially axed the LGBTQ Youth Specialized Services program Thursday, an LGBTQ-specific program under the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, a move that the CEO of an LGBTQ youth crisis intervention program called “unfathomable.”
“This administration has made a dangerous decision to play politics with real young people’s lives,” said James Black, CEO of the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth crisis intervention organization that was initially the sole provider of the LGBTQ Youth Specialized Services program.
“The 988 Lifeline’s Specialized Services Program was created to serve Americans at highest risk for suicide – including veterans and LGBTQ+ youth – with best-practice crisis care that meets these populations’ unique needs.”
The program launched in 2022 under the previous administration and has served nearly 1.5 million LGBTQ youths since its launch, with LGBTQ youths more than four times likely to contemplate suicide than their peers, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Callers under age 25 were previously able to request to speak with LGBTQ-trained counselors or to text “pride” to 988. As of Thursday, texting “pride” to 988 kicks back a message that “the service you requested has changed,” and instead, directs users to connect with a standard, unspecialized 988 counselor.
Democratic lawmakers didn’t take the news of the service’s termination well either, with Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) telling MSNBC Wednesday that “kids are going to die” as a result.
“This is actually the kind of thing Republicans should care about if they really care about American kids, because an extraordinary percentage of the people who call this lifeline in a moment of crisis say that it saved their lives,” Moulton said.
“As a veteran, I know how much it means to my fellow veterans to be able to push a button when they call 988 and get connected directly to a veterans crisis counselor – someone who’s trained to deal with veterans. Well, LGBTQ kids need that, too. Sadly, more children are going to die in America because of this cut.”