“This is a fatal decision.”
That’s how Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, described the Trump administration’s decision to end a federal partnership with the LGBTQ+ activist organization.
Since 2022, a federally funded suicide prevention hotline known as the 988 Lifeline has routed LGBTQ+ youth callers to The Trevor Project and other nonprofits to receive specialized support. Last Tuesday, the government announced that the hotline would, instead, serve anyone seeking help directly, through a single point of contact. The decision was met with howls of outrage.
For the last week, mainstream outlets like NBC News and PBS have breathlessly reported that the White House plans to “shut down” the national “LGBTQ youth suicide hotline.” By “pull[ing] the plug,” the administration has imperiled the lives of countless kids across the country, they say.
“Is cruelty the point?” mused CNN anchor Sara Sidner.
Reporter Katelyn Burns wrote for MSNBC that “this administration does not seem to care if trans children die.”
It would be a deeply disturbing story. If it were true.
In reality, nothing is being “shut down.”