Last September, The Trevor Project celebrated its second anniversary in partnership with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the two-decade-old national suicide hotline originally launched under a different phone number. The Trevor Project, founded in 1998 to support LGBTQ+ youth considering suicide, was just one of a number of organizations that joined over the years to provide specialized crisis-support services via the hotline’s “Press 3” main menu service option.
But like so many other nonprofit/government partnerships, Trevor Project’s involvement with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline now has come to an end: on July 17, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ended the “Press 3” option that directed LGBTQ+ youth to staff specially trained to address their needs. The decision to end the service came despite the fact that Press 3 reached monthly records this past May and June, and without regard for the fact that LGBTQ+ youth are from five to eight times more likely to experience suicidal ideation than their straight or cisgender peers.
While The Trevor Project itself remains available to support queer youth via its long-established independent chat and phone lines, young LGBTQ+ Americans in need who call the government’s crisis number can no longer count on receiving support that affirms and supports their identities. A June KFF Health News article published by ABC News quoted an administration spokesperson as saying that the government would not “grant taxpayer money to a chat service where children are encouraged to embrace radical gender ideology by ‘counselors’ without consent or knowledge of their parents.”
Insisting on parental “knowledge or consent” can be a major barrier to services for LGBTQ+ youth, who have a 120% higher risk of homelessness than young people who are straight or cis, and for whom “lack of acceptance by family members” is disproportionately responsible for that risk, according to the National Network for Youth. Up to 40% of youth experiencing homelessness identify as LGBTQ+, according to the network, as compared to under 10% of the general population.
Fortunately for The Trevor Project, private donors including Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal have stepped in to help the nonprofit fill the void left by the end of “Press 3.”
Launched in June, The Trevor Project’s Emergency Lifeline Campaign for LGBTQ+ Youth has already raised approximately $18 million from more than 17,000 donors. One anonymous donor alone made an anchor gift of $12.3 million. Philanthropists Jon and Abby Winkelried, who have a transgender child, also made “a significant leadership gift,” said Trevor Project Senior Vice President of Philanthropy Janson Wu. Pivotal, which has provided The Trevor Project with $4 million in grants since 2023, also made an anchor gift to the Emergency Lifeline Campaign.
“We have a broad base of support for the life-saving work that Trevor does — folks who are in the LGBTQ community; folks who are allies or family members; particularly parents; as well as people who care about mental health and the crisis that young people are facing in this country today,” Wu said.
“Too many LGBTQ+ youth are left without help in moments of crisis,” said Sara Bathum, Pivotal’s senior strategy manager for adolescent mental health. “The Trevor Project plays a vital role in closing that gap, and we are proud to continue working alongside them so more young people can find life-saving connection and care.”
The need is a pressing one. A study conducted last year found suicide attempts by trans and gender-nonconforming teens increased as much as 72% in the years after their home states passed anti-trans laws. Already in 2022, research conducted by The Trevor Project found that nearly half of the country’s LGBTQ+ youth had struggled with suicidal ideation. Given the link between the passage of discriminatory laws and suicidal ideation and risk for queer youth, those numbers are likely to climb as laws around the country seek to restrict medical services for transgender minors and their ability to identify as trans in schools without parental notification.
As Inside Philanthropy reported in 2023, philanthropy’s response to the prevalence of suicide in the U.S. has been underwhelming at best, though last year, my colleague Martha Ramirez did find funders supporting nonprofits serving the mental health needs of rural areas.
The Trevor Project’s recent fundraising success echoes that of Lambda Legal and the Global Philanthropy Project, both of which have benefited from donor reactions to the growing power of anti-LGBTQ+ ideology here in the U.S. and abroad. It’s definitely true that nothing opens wallets like a crisis. The unanswered question remains: Will the uptick in giving by LGBTQ+ communities and their allies be enough in the face of government retrenchment? For the children and teens in crisis who were formerly able to depend on “Press 3” and may now find themselves routed to an anti-queer “counselor,” the answer to that question could literally be the difference between life and death.
The Trevor Project offers 24/7 support online, by phone or via text. The U.S. TransLifeline offers direct emotional and financial help to trans individuals, including adults. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached by calling 988.
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