Pedro Pascal, Ariana Grande Join Plea to Save LGBTQ Lifeline
More than 100 celebrities sign open letter urging Trump to preserve 988 crisis support for LGBTQ youth amid proposed federal budget cuts.
More than 100 prominent celebrities have signed on to a letter urging President Donald Trump’s administration to hold off on implementing budget cuts that would eliminate specialized services for LGBTQ youth who contact the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Since its launch in 2022, callers to contact the national suicide prevention lifeline by dialing 988 have been given the option of speaking with counselors trained to work with specific populations, from Spanish-language speakers to LGBTQ youth.
The 988 service for LGBTQ youth has received nearly 1.3 million calls, texts, and chat messages since launching three years ago, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In February alone, the program received a daily average of 2,100 crisis contacts, reports The Hill.
But under a proposed mental health budget for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, leaked to The Washington Post in April, specialized counseling services for LGBTQ youth would be defunded starting in October.
The proposed cuts align with the Trump administration’s efforts to significantly reduce health-related spending and consolidate several federal health agencies, as well as with a Trump executive order seeking to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within the federal government.
Signatories to the letter urge the Trump administration to keep the funding for 988’s specialized LGBTQ youth services, saying that they meet an important need for people struggling with mental health issues.
“As artists, creators, and public figures, our platforms come with responsibility. And today, that responsibility is clear: we must speak out to protect the mental health and lives of LGBTQ+ youth,” the open letter reads. “We will not stay silent.”
Signers include actors Pedro Pascal, Daniel Radcliffe, Sarah Paulson, and Margaret Cho, former NFL player Carl Nassib, celebrity chef Amanda Freitag, and musical artists Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, Diplo, and Dua Lipa.
“This is about people, not politics,” the letter reads. “At a time of deep division, let this be something we as people can all agree on: no young person should be left without help in their darkest moment. Stripping away this lifeline leaves LGBTQ+ youth with the message that their lives are not worth saving. We refuse to accept that message.”
It’s unclear whether the pleas will fall on deaf ears as Republicans typically view any program or service that caters to a specific identity group as discriminatory. Additionally, the Trump administration, in playing to its conservative base, has largely criticized any initiatives that recognize LGBTQ identity.
Still, two Republican members of Congress — U.S. Reps. Mike Lawler (N.Y.) and Young Kim (Calif.) — wrote a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., asking him to preserve funding for 988’s specialized LGBTQ youth services.
“We firmly believe in parents’ rights, and think they must play a significant role in this process, but we cannot leave our children without critical mental health care,” Lawler and Kim wrote. “The reported HHS budget draft would eliminate this specialized lifeline, leaving many LGBTQ+ youth without a compassionate voice in moments of profound distress. These are real, vulnerable young people who urgently need access to mental health care.”
Meanwhile, one hundred Democratic House lawmakers wrote their own letter calling for the preservation of 988’s LGBTQ services, warning that allowing the cuts to remain in place would have “lethal consequences.”
The Trevor Project, which provides more than 50% of the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline’s specialized LGBTQ counseling services, estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ people in the United States seriously consider suicide each year.
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