1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

The 988 hotline, which has been dubbed the 911 for mental health emergencies, is credited with reducing teen and young adult suicide deaths. It offers specialized options for certain groups within minority communities, such as military veterans and Spanish speakers, but last July the Trump administration stopped offering (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/06/trevor-project-lgbtq-youth-suicide-lifeline-trump) the “press 3” option for LGBTQ+ youth, with a only month’s notice. Now, the Administration concedes it must bring the option back after this Congress allocated $33 million toward LGBTQ+ interventions for youth, but it has excluded the Trevor Project from providing the 988 services that the Trevor Project pioneered, developed, and specializes in. The Trump administration has limited applications to manage the return of LGBTQ+ services to 988 to crisis centers that are “current and active” members of the 988 network, but the Trevor Project only lost its current and active status when the administration inappropriately, dangerously cancelled the LGBTQ+ services that the Trevor Project was managing and now seeks to reinstate. It is kafkaesque to insist that the only crisis center with a proven track record of successfully delivering LGBTQ+ 988 services is incapable/ineligible to do. Excluding the Trevor Project from consideration in the reintroduction of this necessary crisis intervention risks leaving care for LGBTQ+ people in the hands of those who dabble in their specific needs but lack specialization. We know that this doesn’t work for military veterans’ crisis intervention. And it doesn’t work for LGBTQ+ care either. I ask that you: Demand answers from HHS about the exclusion of the Trevor Project from the 988 crisis intervention care that they pioneered and provided until their services were terminated without cause. Require that HHS consider all qualified providers for the $33 million Congressionally allocated Remember that congressional oversight must be continuous; follow the process Real lives are saved by the work the Trevor Project does. Now more than ever, let them do this valuable work.