In 2024, more than 600,000 people turned to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline’s specialized LGBTQI+ youth service in moments of crisis. For many, it meant reaching affirming counselors who understood what they were facing when they needed help most.
In July 2025, the Trump administration shut down the lifesaving service, claiming it promoted an ideological agenda.
That is why I am leading the bipartisan 988 LGBTQ+ Youth Access Act, legislation that would restore and permanently protect specialized 988 crisis services for LGBTQI+ youth, ensuring that no future administration can eliminate this support unilaterally. At a time when too many young people are struggling to access mental healthcare, Congress should be expanding lifesaving resources, not dismantling them.
The decision by the administration came at a time when federal data across Democratic and Republican administrations alike consistently showed LGBTQI+ youth facing disproportionately high rates of mental health distress and suicidality. A 2024 Trevor Project survey found that 36% of LGBTQI+ youth had seriously considered suicide in the previous year, while nearly half of those seeking mental healthcare were unable to access it. For many young people, specialized crisis services provided a vital lifeline when other support systems were unavailable.
In Illinois and across the country, families are grappling with a growing youth mental health crisis. Many LGBTQI+ youth face rejection at home, bullying at school, discrimination or deep social isolation. For young people navigating these challenges, especially in communities where acceptance may be scarce, immediate access to affirming, competent crisis support can mean the difference between hope and despair, and in some cases, life and death.
For Illinois families, schools, healthcare providers and crisis response systems already confronting rising youth mental health needs, losing this specialized support makes an urgent challenge even harder.
Congress recognized the urgency of this crisis in 2020 when lawmakers from both parties passed the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, legislation signed into law by President Donald Trump. The law created the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which launched in 2022 and included specialized services for LGBTQI+ youth, connecting callers with counselors trained to understand the challenges they faced.
The results were unmistakable. From its launch through its termination in July 2025, the LGBTQI+ youth line received nearly 1.6 million contacts, including more than 600,000 in 2024 alone. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found the 988 Lifeline has been associated with thousands fewer youth suicide deaths nationwide, including an approximately 11% reduction among young people since its launch.
Behind these statistics are young people who found hope because someone answered the phone. Survivors have described how, in their most vulnerable moments, speaking with someone who understood their circumstances made a profound difference. For many, it meant finally speaking with someone who knew what it felt like to feel isolated, rejected or unseen.
Yet despite bipartisan opposition from more than 100 members of Congress to ending these services, and mounting evidence that the program was saving lives, the Trump administration shut it down anyway. In Congress, I have worked with colleagues from both parties to help lead efforts to restore funding for these services, and our bipartisan 988 LGBTQ+ Youth Access Act would permanently codify them into law. The administration should reverse course and restore this lifesaving support immediately.
We cannot prevent every tragedy. But we can ensure that when a young person reaches out for help in their darkest moment, someone is there to answer — someone ready to listen, understand, and help them find hope. That should not be a partisan question. It should be a national commitment.
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, serves Illinois’ 8th Congressional District, which includes the northwest suburbs.