On hold
With sudden closure of suicide line for LGBTQ+ youth, Colorado, other states, work to fill void

On July 17, the option went dead for LGBTQ+ youth to access specialized mental health support from the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said a month earlier that it would no longer “silo” services and would instead “focus on serving all help seekers.” That meant the elimination of the “Press 3” option, the dedicated line answered by staff specifically trained to handle LGBTQ+ youth facing mental health issues ranging from anxiety to thoughts of suicide.

Now, several states, including Colorado, are scrambling to backfill LGBTQ+ crisis support in response to what advocates say is the Trump administration’s hostile stance toward this group. In his first day back in the White House, President Donald Trump issued an executive order recognizing only two sexes: male and female. While campaigning, he condemned gender ideology as “toxic poison.” And the administration omitted “T” for transgender and “Q” for queer or questioning in announcing the elimination of the 988 Press 3 option.

“Since the election, we’ve seen a clear increase in young people feeling devalued, erased, uncertain about their future, and seeing resources taken away,” Becca Nordeen, senior vice president of crisis intervention at The Trevor Project, a national suicide prevention and crisis intervention nonprofit for LGBTQ+ youth, said.

Gordon Coombes, director of Colorado’s 988 line, said staff are increasing outreach to let the public know that the general 988 service hasn’t gone away, even with the loss of the Press 3 option, and that its call-takers welcome calls from the LGBTQ+ population. Staff are promoting services at concerts, community events and Rockies baseball games.

Coombes said the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration contracts with Solari Crisis & Human Services to answer 988 calls, and that call-takers on the general line have already been trained to support LGBTQ+ young people.

The state supports the 988 services via a 7-cent annual fee on cellphone lines. Coombes said the department requested an increase in the fee to bolster its services. While the additional funds would benefit all 988 operations, the request was made in part because of the elimination of the Press 3 option, he said.

The Trevor Project’s Nordeen and other advocates say it has never been more critical for what the estimated 5.2 million LGBTQ+ people ages 13-24 across the country. About 39% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously consider suicide each year, including roughly half of transgender and nonbinary young people, according to a 2023 survey.

The use of the dedicated line for LGBTQ+ youth had steadily increased, according to data from the federal substance abuse agency, since its rollout in October 2022. Out of approximately 16.7 million contacts to the general line, nearly 1.6 million calls, texts or online chats were from LGBTQ+ youth. The Press 3 option reached record monthly highs in May and June. In 2024, contacts to the line peaked in November, the month of the election.

Call-takers on the general 988 line do not necessarily have the specialized training that the staff on the Press 3 line had, causing fear among LGBTQ+ advocates that they don’t have the right context or language to support youth experiencing crises related to sexuality and gender.

“If a counselor doesn’t know what the concept of coming out is, or being outed, or the increased likelihood of family rejection and how those bring stressors and anxiety, it can inadvertently prevent the trust from being immediately built,” Mark Henson, The Trevor Project’s interim vice president of advocacy and government affairs, said. He added that creating trust at the beginning of a calls is a critical bridge.

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget did not immediately respond to questions about why the Press 3 option was shut down, but spokesperson Rachel Cauley told NBC News that the department’s budget 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.”

Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement: “Continued funding of the Press 3 option threatened to put the entire 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in danger of massive reductions in service.”

Hannah Wesolowski, chief advocacy officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said Congress could put the funding for the LGBTQ+ line in any final appropriations bill it passes. She also said states could individually codify permanent funding for an LGBTQ+ option, the way Washington state has created and funded a “Press 4” option for its Native American population to reach crisis counselors who are tribal members or trained in cultural practices. The state created the option by carving out some of its 988 funding. No state has publicly announced a plan to make such an investment for LGBTQ+ populations.

Federal lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have spoken out against the closure of the Press 3 option and urged that it be reinstated. At a July press conference alongside Democratic colleagues, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urging him to reverse course on the LGBTQ+ line.

“What we must agree on is that when a child is in crisis – when they are alone, when they are afraid, when they are unsure of where to turn to, when they are contemplating suicide – they need access to help right away,” Lawler said. “Regardless of where you stand on these issues, as Americans, as people, we must all agree there is purpose and worth to each and every life.”

This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.