Photo by Kirkikis - Getty Images
Stop the Hate - NYC Pride Marchers
Marchers in the Gay Pride Parade in New York City call for an end to the hatred directed at the gay community (2017)
Effective July 17, the national LGBTQ youth suicide hotline will be permanently closed down. The specialized program under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 988 hotline known as the “Press 3 Option” has been used by 1.3 million youth since its introduction in 2022. In fact, the option was created due to the disproportionate need for such support by LGBTQ youth who are four times more likely to contemplate self-harm than their non-LGBTQ counterparts.
Ending this potentially life-saving service is yet another action in the current regime’s war against the LGBTQ community and, particularly, against its younger and most vulnerable members. On Inauguration Day, January 20, the campaign to dismantle LGBTQ community infrastructure, abrogate its rights and erase its identity began with an executive order entitled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” signaling an end to official government diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. It would deny recognition of Pride Month among other days and months dedicated to celebrating non-whites, the disabled, women and others. These include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Day, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Women’s Equality Day, Juneteeth, Black History and Women’s History Months, National Hispanic, Asian American Pacific Island and American Indian Heritage Months as well as National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Since then, a relentless cascade of attacks against our rights and recognition has continued on a variety of fronts not only at the Federal level but by state and local governments as well.
Cutting the Hotline
The cutting of the LGBTQ Youth Suicide Hotline should not be a surprise. It should also not be a surprise that the government callously timed the announcement to be made during Pride Month. Any additional pain caused by cruelly twisting the knife seems to be part of the strategy to psychologically traumatize and terrorize the community (similarly, just days before Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the end of slavery, the regime announced the reversing of Army fort names from those renamed under the Biden Administration back to their original Confederate generals’ names).
In a statement made to a local news outlet, Ritchie Martin, current executive director of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, noted the negative implications of the hotline’s shutdown on LGBTQ+ youth saying, with unintentional irony, “The question becomes, where will they have to turn to?”
One might naturally expect the Center itself to be that place to turn to. However, despite its offering of mental health services, that support is limited. Due to the Center’s own loss of $900,000 in federal funding, any expansion of those services to include a youth suicide hotline is highly unlikely. The Racine-based LGBTQ Community Center of Southeast Wisconsin’s recent closure indicates the precarious state of affairs for any group once reliant on federal funds.
Other Resources
However, there are, in fact, other resources for LGBTQ+ youth in crisis (their phone numbers are shown at the end of this article). One is the Trevor Project. That organization’s mission is precisely that of the 988 hotline, namely to provide affirming counseling for LGBTQ+ youth. In fact, they collaborated with the Federal government in running the LGBTQ+ option. Today, however, the regime brands the Trevor Project as “groomers.” In fact, that was the official reason cited for ending it. In other words, the Trevor Project’s positive message recognizing the self-worth of the individual seeking care was anathema to the hateful dehumanizing one promoted by our current government.
Locally, Pathfinders, Milwaukee’s youth services organization, also offers a 24/7 youth crisis hotline.
On a positive note, on July 8, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Governor Tony Evers has the power to ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youth statewide. Conversion therapy is a long-debunked process of attempting to change a person’s same-sex attraction by various means from prayer to psychological and physical abuse. It has been banned in a number of Wisconsin cities including Milwaukee. However, a statewide ban has been blocked by Republican state legislators who support the practice. Governor Evers had proposed a conversion therapy ban in 2019, but Republicans used questionable procedural maneuvers to block it. The Court’s ruling dismissed Republican attempts to prevent the legislative process from moving forward as unconstitutional.
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court action offers some hope. It also underscores the power of the voter who cast their ballots for sanity and equality. As long as we still wield the power of the vote, it is incumbent on us to use it wisely.
Pathfinders’ Crisis Hotline: 414-271-1560 or 866-212-7233
The Trevor Project Hotline: 866-488-7386
