Suicide Hotline Workers Condemn Cuts to LGBTQ+ Crisis Services

NEW YORK – Union workers employed by the Trevor Project are condemning a decision by the Department of Health and Human Services to end funding for specialized suicide hotline services for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults. 

When LGBTQ+ young people in crisis call or text 988, they are connected to counselors who are trained to address their unique needs. Workers at the Trevor Project, represented by Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1180, handle nearly half of those contacts.

While the Trevor Project will continue to operate a helpline for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults, the 988 Lifeline has greater public awareness. Over the past three years, the 988  LGBTQ+ program has assisted over 1.3 million young people.

“As a collective, we are devastated by Trump cutting the LGBTQ+ youth line,” said Jack Hanson, a 988 Lifeline Crisis Counselor. “This executive action serves as a death sentence to many in this demographic. We want to emphasize that LGBTQ+ youth deserve to be affirmed in who they are and that they deserve to live meaningful lives. We also wish to say this includes all categories of this community, including trans and queer youth, who the Trump Administration had ignorantly excluded from its initial announcement. Despite the line closure, we will always be dedicated to protecting this population in spite of the hatred, hostility, and cruelty of the Trump administration. We urge supporters to contact their members of Congress and Senators to urge them to restore funding for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services.”

“The decision to shut down LGTBQ+ crisis services in the middle of the fiscal year – announced during Pride month – is a deliberate provocation and a despicable attack on LGBTQ+ workers and the community,” said Gloria Middleton, president of CWA Local 1180. “CWA members provide vital, live-saving services for kids who need our help. Our union stands united behind the Trevor Project workers and the LGTBQ+ community that they serve.”

“The attacks on the LGBTQ+ community are one front in this Administration’s larger war on working people,” said Dennis Trainor, Vice President of CWA District 1. “America is a country built by and for the working class, with all types of people coming together to work for a brighter future for our children. LGBTQ+ workers and families are part of the rich tapestry of American life.  At CWA they provide crisis services for at-risk youth, connect households and small businesses to high-speed internet services, and drive American innovation forward while working on NIH-funded grants. They will not be erased, and the labor movement stands with our LGBTQ+ siblings.”

Union workers at the Trevor Project are protected by a union contract that includes guaranteed severance pay in the event of layoffs. 

The national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline launched in 2022, and has provided specialized services for LGBTQ+ youth who are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers. The suicide prevention line has bipartisan support, created through an act of Congress as the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, and signed into law by President Donald Trump in October, 2020. 

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