One year later, 988 still doesn’t have a hotline for LGBTQ+ youth

The 19th reports that exactly one year ago, the 988 crisis hotline's specialized service for LGBTQ+ youth went dark. Option Three, which received seventy thousand calls last June, shut down when federal funding ran out—Congress approved thirty-three million dollars to restore it months ago, but the Trump administration is only promising to bring it back by year's end. The catch: an executive order issued on the president's first day excludes transgender people from federal policy, and now the administration is trying to restore a service for LGBTQ+ youth while adhering to a directive that would exclude one of the most at-risk groups. The Trevor Project, which handled half the calls before the shutdown, warns that without transgender inclusion, any restoration won't be genuinely LGBTQ+ focused—though the organization continues taking crisis calls at eight six six four eight eight seven three eight six.

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