Experts fear lives will be at risk if Trump cuts LGBTQ crisis hotline
By: Gene Myers
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... A leaked federal budget proposal calls for the defunding of specialized suicide prevention services for LGBTQ+ youth who use the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline -a move that New Jersey mental health professionals warn could cost lives.
.....
"Quite simply, more will possibly die or deteriorate without access to services i time at all," said Debra Wentz, CEO of the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies. "This population is already at significantly greater risk of mental health challenges, suicidal thoughts and behaviors."
..... LGBTQ+ teens are six times more likely to experience symptoms of depression than their non-LGBTQ+ peers, more than twice as likely to feel suicidal and over four times as likely to attempt suicide compared with heterosexual youth. Wentz said, citing Mental Health America, a Virginia-based nonprofit.
.....
In 2020, President Donald Trump signed the national Suicide Hotline Designation Act and established 988 as the national suicide prevention hotline, accessible by call or text. The legislation also mandated the development of specialized counseling for high-risk groups, including LGBTQ+ youth.
..... "When you remove these services, you're basically saying: This person's life does not matter," said J. P> Pedoto, a social worker who heads the Pride+ counseling program for Family connections, a nonprofit in East Orange. [NJ] "You're creating cracks and hoping that someone is lucky enough to grab them before they fall through."
..... The LGBQ+ youth line within 988 connects callers with counselors trained to address their special needs. Since its inception in 2022, it has fielded
more than 1.2 million crisis contacts, said Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat and the first openly gay woman elected to the U.S. Senate. In 2024, the program received $33.1 million in federal funding - up from a $7.2 million pilot.
..... State officials couldn't say how often the service has been used in New Jersey. but an analysis of data from early 2024 found that one in 10 contacts to 988- and almost a fifth of all texts - used the LGBTQ+ service, said the Kaiser Family foundation, a Washington group that studies health care policy.
..... The funding threat first emerged in April, [2025] when news outlets and advocacy groups like the Trevor Project first spread word about a leaked draft budget from the trump administration that called for elimination 988's LGBTQ+ service as part of efforts to drastically cut back on spending at the Department of Helaht and Human Services.
...... "President Trump has committed to balancing the budget while providing adequate funding for critical non defense discretionary priorities - securing our borders, caring for our veterans and continued infrastructure investments," the draft budget states.
.....
"Reaching balance request: resetting the proper balance between federal and state responsibilities with a renewed emphasis on federalism: eliminating woke ideology; protecting the American people by Deconstructing a wasteful and weaponized bureaucracy; and identifying and eliminating wasteful spending," it continues.
..... The Department's official "skinny budget,: a preliminary outline that lays out spending priorities for the coming year, was release on May 2. [2025] It does not specifically mention the LGBTQ+ program but calls for more than $1 billion in cuts to the Substance abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which oversees 988.
.....
The White House Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment.
.....
Trump's spending proposal is now before Congress, which could make changes, "It's important to understand this was a proposal, not a finalized budget," Wentz said.
..... Still, the document has fueled concerns that the LGBTQ+ line would be among the programs affect4ed.
..... "We know that crisis services geared towards LGBTQ+ youth and young adults work," Wentz said. "People feel more comfortable talking to someone who shares their life experience, identity or culture - someone who understands what they're going through. That identity-affirming connection can literally save lives."
.... LGBTQ+ youths nationally face heightened suicide risks. More than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ youths in the U.S. seriously consider suicide each year, with one attempting suicide roughly every 45 seconds, reported The Trevor Project.
..... The group, a national suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization focused specifically on LGBTQ+ youth, has been a leading source for data that New Jersey mental helaht professionals rely on. Wentz said, calling it "the gold standard" for tracking thee trends.
..... The 988 service is just one of a long list of LGBTQ+-focused programs Trump has moved to eliminate. The Human rights campaign another advocacy group, estimates that the total finical impact of the proposed cuts on LGBTQ+ support programs would reach about $2.7 billion, with diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, transgender health care access and HIV/AIDS programs also targeted.
..... In January, [2025] the Trump administration issued executive Order 14168, which redefined "sex" in federal policy as binary and immutable and instructed agencies to halt funding for programs promoting "gender ideology."
.....
Pedoto, the mental helaht counselor, said youth LGBTQ+ New Jerseyans are struggling because of what they see as rising political and social attacks on their rights. Family connections CEO Jacques Hryshko agreed, saying the tone set by the White House is "frighting: for the community.
.....
Pedoto said he has seen "a huge rush of youth and families reaching out" in New Jersey since Trump's inauguration, as fear and uncertainty have grown. Families who previously felt stable are rushing to change names on licenses and passports. They are seeking services for their children and worried abut changing laws and protections, he said.
..... Nationally, The Trevor Project reported an eightfold spike in calls and texts to its LGBTQ+ crisis lines the day after the 2024 election.
..... Wentz said this surge reflects the broader climate where political attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, combined with policy rollbacks, are fueling anxiety, depression and heightened suicide risk.
..... "When you're feeling targeted, you're going to lie low. You're not going to feel welcome. You're not going to necessarily reach out for help - and that's very serious, because these young people may stop seeking services exactly when they need them most,' Wentz said.