(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Intentional cruelty: Trump administration to shutter LGBTQ youth suicide hotline [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-06-19
Trump has stepped up his war on Americans. The latest victims of this heartless bastard's sociopathy are America's LGBTQ youth. He has ordered that the federal hotline offering crisis services to that community be closed within 30 days.
The Hill reported :
President Trump's administration has ordered a crisis service for LGBTQ youth to close within 30 days in a move that opponents have said will have dire consequences. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) said in a news release late Tuesday that 988, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, will "no longer silo" LGBTQ youth services, also known as the "Press 3 option," beginning July 17 "to focus on serving all help seekers, including those previously served through the Press 3 option."
No one should think that "to focus on serving all help seekers, including those previously served through the Press 3 option" means that LGBTQ will receive the same standard of care as before. Mental healthcare, like physical healthcare, is not monolithic. It has specialties.
An older citizen driven to the brink by the death of a spouse and loneliness does not have the same issues as a teenager confused by natural urges their "traditional" family thinks are sinful. A youth who feels they are in the wrong body needs different support than a middle-aged opioid abuser desperate to get sober.
I suspect that LGBTQs currently "pressing 3" are connected with experts in their field — probably themselves members of the LGBTQ community. Now, they will be thrown in the general pool — and equally likely to talk to an addiction specialist as they are to someone trained in their issues. At the very least, it will add a layer of triage to people already in a fragile state.
It is, of course, impossible to predict the extent of the harm, as it is a sure bet that no one thought through the practical effect of this punitive policy.
Dear God, it's hard enough to navigate a corporate answering system at the best of times. Imagine trying to do so when anguished. Not to mention that while the LGBTQ community is trying to find the right counselor, non-LGBTQ callers will also suffer delays. Lose — lose.
Trump didn't even bother to offer the conservatives' usual “fiscal responsibility” fig leaf to cover the naked sadism. He doesn't pretend the move will save a dime of the taxpayer's money. The Hill reported:
"The fate of the LGBTQ youth suicide hotline has been in flux since April, when The Washington Post reported that a leaked Department of Health and Human Services budget proposal for 2026 would eliminate the program's funding. The White House confirmed those plans earlier this month but said funding for 988 would remain unchanged at $520 million for the year."
Nor can the administration argue that they are making the process more efficient. If that were the case, they would also be shuttering the 'press one' option, which quickly connects "veterans and service members" to a counselor.
This preference is entirely appropriate as the military has a self-harm problem. People who wear or have worn the uniform have a higher suicide rate than civilians. However, so do the LGBTQ over the non-LGBTQ. Note: Another demographic that has a disproportionately high suicide rate is older white men.
So why do it? The answer is pure bigotry.
The motive is fundamentalist religious correctness (RC) — which is not to be confused with political correctness (PC). PC's excess is being too sensitive, being too easily offended. (That should be the world's biggest problem.)
RC, on the other hand, deliberately harms people. Cutting off this critical resource will hurt people for the 'crime' of being born the way they are.
I am no longer religious. But I was raised a Christian. Knowing what I know now, I suspect that if Jesus were to return, he would find that his most self-congratulatory and noisy followers (unlike the modest Christians who pursue a private faith) have entirely lost the plot.
I didn't leave the church because I believed Jesus was wrong about compassion, helping the least of these, comforting the afflicted, or telling the rich to get over themselves. I left, in part, because people in power used religion as a temporal tool to lord it over people without power. It was an inescapable conclusion to anyone learning European history, from the suppression of the Pagans to the Inquisition to colonialism.
Nothing that religious fundamentalists — of any stripe (they're all the same despite the different books) — have done since I left has given me any reason to return. These hypocrites bleat pieties about the sanctity of life in theory. But in practice, they can't wait to get the boot in. And if LGBTQ youth have to die to make the sanctimonious sadist feel righteous, it’s a price they’re willing to pay.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/19/2328557/-Intentional-cruelty-Trump-administration-to-shutter-LGBTQ-youth-suicide-hotline?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
