Suicide Prevention For LGBTQ+ Youth Is On The Chopping Block In Trump Budget
The proposed cuts would dismantle specialized suicide prevention programs, sparking alarm among mental health advocates.
A preliminary budget document has revealed the Trump Administration’s plan to eliminate the 988 Suicide Prevention and Crisis Lifeline’s specialized services for LGBTQ+ youth in a move to cut roughly one-third of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) 2026 budget.
The memo dated April 10 illuminates the Administration’s possible plan to gut discretionary health spending and consolidate existing health agencies into the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), reports The Washington Post.
Related: Trump Orders National Institutes of Health to Study “Transition Regret”
If Congress chooses to honor the President’s budgetary demands, the specialized hotline for LGBTQ+ youth would be cut starting on October 1, the beginning of the 2026 fiscal year. Since 2022, the 988 hotline has offered the option for callers to press three and be directed to specific services for LGBTQ+ youth. Total LGBTQ+ contacts routed through the service have numbered more than 1.2 million.
HHS has invested nearly $1.5 billion in the 988 Lifeline, which also provides specialized services for Veterans and Spanish speakers.
“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,” said Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, in a press release. The Trevor Project found that LGBTQ+ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers, and 41% of LGBTQ+ youth have seriously considered suicide in the past year.
Related: DOJ Sues Maine For Refusing To Comply With Trump’s Trans Athlete Ban
The budget cuts would also end the Center of Excellence programs focusing on the mental health of the LGBTQ+ community, the African American community, the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities and the Hispanic and Latino communities. The Center of Excellence programs, founded by a grant from HHS, help train and better equip behavioral health practitioners with vital information on supporting specific communities.
Beyond mental health, the proposed budget cuts would eliminate programs for HIV treatment, end the Head Start program, rural health care programs, childhood lead poisoning programs, and other vital agencies.
