The Trump Administration Wants to Defund a Lifeline for LGBTQ+ Youth
The world feels upside down these days. Instead of moving forward, it seems like we’re racing backwards — and last week’s news confirmed just how dangerous that regression is getting. A leaked draft of the Department of Health and Human Services’ proposed budget revealed something that left us furious and heartbroken: the Trump administration wants to eliminate all federal funding for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for LGBTQ+ Youth.
If approved by Congress, this life-saving program will be defunded as of October 1, 2025.
Let’s be clear, this isn’t just a budget line item. This is a literal lifeline. Since its launch in 2022, the LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services program has supported more than 1.2 million crisis contacts, offering emergency support that’s inclusive, affirming, and life-saving for LGBTQ+ young people in crisis. It’s funded through the Department of Health and Human Services and has been a vital tool in suicide prevention, a space where LGBTQ+ youth remain disproportionately vulnerable.
“Here we are cutting off the nation’s lifeline to those in crisis,” said Paolo del Vecchio, former director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). “Due to the discriminatory practices of the Trump administration, they’re pulling that life preserver away from thousands and thousands of people.”
Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project — which responds to nearly half of the calls and texts from LGBTQ+ youth to the 988 Lifeline — put it plainly: “Suicide prevention is about risk, not identity. Ending the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ youth specialized services will not just strip away access from millions of LGBTQ+ kids and teens — it will put their lives at risk.”
The Trevor Project is part of the LGBTQ+ Youth Subnetwork, which currently receives an estimated $50 million in federal funding to keep these crucial services running. Under the proposed budget, all of that could vanish.
And this isn’t happening in a vacuum. The Trump administration has spent its early days targeting the LGBTQ+ community, especially trans youth, with cruel precision. From executive orders restricting access to gender-affirming care to policies banning transgender people from serving in the military and threatening teachers who support nonbinary students, the attacks keep coming.
Inside HHS, things aren’t looking much better. Under health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the department has already slashed a quarter of its workforce. SAMHSA has been scrapped entirely, with mental health initiatives absorbed into a new, vaguely titled Administration for a Healthy America. On top of that, the leaked budget includes plans to cut 40% of funding to the National Institutes of Health, defund the Head Start program for low-income families, and slash the CDC’s chronic disease programs by 44%.
We know this news is deeply upsetting. For many in our community, especially young people, it can feel like the ground is shifting beneath us. It’s hard not to feel scared or even hopeless when the systems that are supposed to protect us actively choose not to.
But please know this: you’re not alone. We’re here. Our community is here. And we will keep fighting for each other, especially when our leaders won’t.
If you or someone you know needs help or support, The Trevor Project’s trained crisis counselors are available 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386, via chat at TheTrevorProject.org/Get-Help, or by texting START to 678678.
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