A leaked budget proposal shows President Donald Trump’s administration plans to slash the suicide crisis hotline’s funding for its LGBTQ+ youth services, potentially ending a program that provided counseling for Maryland youths.
The draft budget for the Department of Health and Human Services sent out on April 10 leaked last week, according to reporting from The Washington Post. Among the proposal’s cuts is the elimination of a program under 988, the national suicide and crisis hotline, that specifically serves LGBTQ+ youth.
Recent studies indicate that Maryland is home to 36,000 LGBTQ+ young people between the ages of 13 and 17, including 2,300 transgender chldren and teens.
Between January and February, the LGBTQ-specific hotline fielded around 2,000 contacts a day, on average, per 988 data.
A survey on the mental health of the young LGBTQ+ community in Maryland published by the Trevor Project earlier this year found that 40% of young LGBTQ+ people in the state seriously considered suicide last year, while over half reported experiencing discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
A Trevor Project spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
In 2020, the Trump administration established 988 as the nation’s official suicide hotline, and in 2022, Congress passed an act providing LGBTQ+ individuals with specialized services, including the ability to speak with a trained counselor suited to their needs.
The Maryland Department of Health launched the state’s iteration of the hotline in July 2022, which is still in service. According to data collected by the hotline, it received an average of about 276 contacts from Maryland per day in March, and answered over 90% of them.
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