The left and its cheerleaders in the legacy media are in full-blown meltdown over the Trump administration’s decision to scrap the “Press 3” LGBTQ option from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. They’re throwing around words like “devastating” and “discriminatory” and even portraying the move as anti-suicide prevention. But this was the right call, and here’s why.
First off, did you even know this existed? Most people didn’t. And that’s part of the problem. Since when did suicide prevention become about carving people into identity groups? The moment we start legitimizing that approach, we open the floodgates. What’s next — press 4 if you’re white, press 5 if you’re male, press 6 if you’re religious, and on and on?
At some point, it collapses under its own weight. The truth is, this was never about denying help to anyone. It’s about restoring a universal, non-ideological, and fiscally responsible model where every person in crisis gets the same compassionate care, without turning mental health into another battleground for identity politics.
The 988 Lifeline exists to help everyone, not just those who check certain demographic boxes or conform to particular activist narratives. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), “everyone who contacts the 988 Lifeline will continue to receive access to skilled, caring, culturally competent crisis counselors.” In other words, no one is being turned away. No one is being told their pain doesn’t matter. What’s happening is that all Americans in crisis are now treated equally, which is exactly how it should be.
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The Trevor Project, a far-left nonprofit that had operated the LGBTQ-specific “Press 3” option since 2022, is predictably livid. Its CEO, Jaymes Black, called the move “devastating” and accused the Trump administration of politicizing suicide prevention. But the real politicization came with the creation of a special identity-based hotline in the first place — funded with tens of millions of your tax dollars to reinforce the idea that only LGBTQ youth require specialized attention, or worse, that only activists can “understand” their struggles.
And let’s not ignore what this so-called “specialized service” was actually doing. The Biden-era system funded a chat service where minors — many without the knowledge or consent of their parents — received encouragement to explore radical gender ideology under the guise of mental health care. According to Rachel Cauley from the Office of Management and Budget, that’s why the Trump administration said no more: “[We won’t] grant taxpayer money to a chat service where children are encouraged to embrace radical gender ideology by ‘counselors’ without consent or knowledge of their parents.” Finally, some sanity.
Here’s what the media won’t tell you: The Trevor Project burned through its entire $33 million annual budget before the end of June. That’s right: an entire year’s worth of taxpayer funding gone in under six months. That’s not just unsustainable; it’s a textbook case of government waste and zero accountability. And despite all the grandstanding about “bipartisan, evidence-based” services, this program was quietly operating as a Trojan horse for radical gender ideology and parental exclusion. The signs were all there: bloated spending, lack of transparency, and a mission that had more to do with activism than actual crisis intervention.
Meanwhile, the core Lifeline continues to receive massive federal support — $520 million for both 2025 and 2026 — and trained crisis counselors equipped to help anyone in distress staff the line. The phone doesn’t care about your fantasy pronouns. It cares whether you’re safe and alive tomorrow. That’s the point.
So no, this isn’t “discrimination.” It’s a much-needed correction. Suicide prevention must remain focused on compassion, not categories. When someone’s life is on the line, the only identity that should matter is a human being in need.
And if the left can’t support that without carving people up into identity silos, then maybe its priorities — not Trump’s — need a closer look.
