The Trump administration is planning to bring back a specialized crisis line for LGBTQ+ young people through the 988 mental health hotline — but the organization that helped build the service from the ground up may be locked out of the new program.
The Trevor Project, the nation’s foremost nonprofit focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQ+ youth, could be blocked from providing the very service it helped develop for the 988 Lifeline just a few years ago.
The 988 hotline, widely described as the mental health equivalent of 911, has been credited with lowering suicide rates among teenagers and young adults. It offers tailored options for specific groups, including veterans and Spanish speakers. However, in July, the Trump administration eliminated the “press 3” option for LGBTQ+ youth with only a month’s warning, citing expired funding.
Now, Congress has stepped in, directing officials to put $33 million toward LGBTQ+-specific youth crisis services, and the administration has committed to restoring the option before the end of the year.
Despite that progress, The Trevor Project may be shut out of the process. The nonprofit that runs the 988 service, Vibrant Emotional Health, has opened applications to manage the relaunched “Press 3” lines — but only to crisis centers that are currently active members of the 988 network. Because the administration canceled the service The Trevor Project specialized in, the organization is no longer active in that network.
The six other crisis centers that previously participated in the LGBTQ+ youth program remain active because they also serve the general population. Only The Trevor Project was exclusively dedicated to serving LGBTQ+ young people.
Dr. Christine Yu Moutier, chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said keeping The Trevor Project on the sidelines “would not make sense,” describing it as a “long-standing, high-quality and trusted resource” for LGBTQ+ people.
Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who has led a bipartisan effort to restore the service, was direct in her criticism. “The Trump administration never should have shut down the ‘press 3’ option and put young Americans at further risk,” she said, calling on the president to bring it back “without needless limitations and with the most qualified, experienced people answering the phone calls and text messages from these vulnerable young people.”
The original specialized service allowed callers to press 3, text “PRIDE,” or use an online chat to connect with counselors specifically trained to support LGBTQ+ young people. According to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the service fielded 1.6 million contacts during its operation. The Trevor Project alone handled roughly half of that volume.
When the “Press 3” option was canceled, federal officials maintained that LGBTQ+ youth could still access help through 988’s general services, saying the agency would “no longer silo” the services in order to serve all callers.
Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, warned that the situation is heading in a troubling direction. “This troubling development indicates a dangerous step toward degrading the clinical standards to serve high risk groups that the ‘press 3’ specialized services were founded on,” Black said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services declined to directly address questions about The Trevor Project’s eligibility, stating only that the department is working with Vibrant to restore the service by year’s end as Congress directed.
Adding to the uncertainty, a leader at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration wrote to an Illinois congressman this month saying the agency needed to evaluate the “most appropriate approach” to restarting the service while staying in compliance with a Trump executive order targeting transgender rights. That order claims “gender ideology extremism” is a threat to women and declares that only two sexes exist.
Black expressed concern that the next version of the LGBTQ+ youth crisis line “may exclude transgender and nonbinary youth entirely.” The Trevor Project continues to independently operate its own around-the-clock crisis line for LGBTQ+ young people.
Research has consistently shown that LGBTQ+ youth face a significantly higher risk of suicide. A 2024 analysis by the CDC found that 26% of transgender and gender-questioning students had attempted suicide in the past year, compared with 5% of cisgender male students and 11% of cisgender female students.
Moutier noted that other crisis centers are providing quality care for LGBTQ+ youth, but stressed that how the service is relaunched matters just as much as whether it is. She acknowledged the stakes are high. “I think there’s the potential for great good, and some harm as well,” she said.
Black put it plainly: “While anti-LGBTQ+ politics may be altering the very purpose of this lifeline created to help save young LGBTQ+ lives, it is critical to make clear that politics has no place in suicide prevention.”
