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LGBT+ crisis hotlines reported a month’s worth of calls during Trump’s election victory

Posted on by Pranco
LGBT+ crisis hotlines reported a month’s worth of calls during Trump’s election victory

According to reports, LGBT+ crisis hotlines have been flooded with calls from young people in need following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 US presidential election.

The Trevor Projecta nonprofit collective dedicated to supporting queer youth and preventing suicide, revealed that it had experienced a nearly 200 percent increase in conversations containing election-related keywords like “election” and “rights.”

“In the past few days, The Trevor Project has seen a nearly 200 percent increase in election-related conversation topics across our 24/7 crisis services,” said Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, in a statement press release. “While alarming, we are not surprised to see that the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ politics in recent years continues to harm the mental health of young people.”

The organization also reported that 90 percent of LGBT+ youth said their well-being was negatively affected by the election. Meanwhile, The Rainbow Youth Project — a nonprofit organization that advocates for the health, safety and well-being of queer youth — told the WashingtonPost it had received more than 3,810 calls this month, surpassing the six-day monthly average of 3,765.

Other groups supporting the LGBT+ community, such as OneIowa, said the number of emails and messages has also increased.

The many fears facing the LGBT+ community are well-founded, as Trump has repeatedly embraced misinformation surrounding gender-affirming care for transgender people. The former president has falsely stated that children are the subjects of “brutal” gender reassignment surgery in US schools, and has called gender-affirming health care “child abuse” and “child sexual mutilation.”

LGBT+ crisis hotlines report an increase in calls from queer youth concerned about Donald Trump's election victory
LGBT+ crisis hotlines report an increase in calls from queer youth concerned about Donald Trump’s election victory (Getty Images)

During his re-election campaign, Trump pledged to repeal federal policies banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and pledged to use the federal government to “stop” gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

Meanwhile, Republicans have spent more than $120 million on anti-trans ads since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, making it the biggest target in Trump’s ad dollars.

These attacks against transgender people and the entire LGBT+ community have already had almost fatal consequences; the Trevor Project reported that anti-trans legislation has increased the number of suicide attempts among transgender youth by as much as 72 percent. The nonprofit estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBT+ young adults between the ages of 13 and 24 seriously consider suicide in the U.S. each year.

“The current political climate in the US is tough, but it is so important for LGBTQ+ youth to know that they don’t have to carry this weight alone,” Black said.

The Trevor Project Helpline is available 24/7 in the US by phone at 1-866-488-7386 or by text at 678-678. If you live in the US and you or someone you know needs mental health care right now, call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis line that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you are in another country, you can go there www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you. In the UK, people experiencing a mental health crisis can contact the Samaritans at 116 123 or [email protected].