If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Additional resources are available at SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources. For LGBTQ mental health support, contact The Trevor Project’s toll-free support line at 866-488-7386.
LGBTQ youth organizations are reporting a sharp increase in calls to suicide prevention hotlines, with the vast majority of callers saying the election is the source of their fears. In addition to teens and children, the groups say they have also been contacted by unprecedented numbers of families and teachers in recent days.
As of Nov. 3, the number of crisis service calls, texts and online chats that The Trevor Project has received increased 125% from the previous week, with an additional spike “beginning around midnight ET on Nov. 5,” one said. spokesperson for the organization told The 74. Trevor also reported a 200% increase in callers specifically mentioning the election.
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Following the re-election of former President Donald Trump, Trevor posted an advisory note at the top of his homepage: “TrevorText and TrevorChat are currently experiencing long wait times due to the election. If you need immediate assistance, please call the TrevorLifeline at 1-866-488-7386.”
The organization has a number of online resources for youth, caregivers and educators, including guidelines for dealing with intense emotions surrounding the presidential election, a self-care flowchart and how to signal that you are an ally in a hostile environment.
“The Trevor Project wants LGBTQ+ youth to know that we are here for you no matter the outcome of any election, and we will continue to fight for every LGBTQ+ youth’s access to safe, affirming spaces – especially during challenging times. CEO Jaymes Black said in a statement to The 74. “LGBTQ+ youth: your life matters, and you were born to live it.”
The Rainbow Youth Project, which typically receives 3,700 calls per month, recorded 2,146 calls between November 3 and 6 alone. Young people generally make up the vast majority of contacts, but the number of calls from parents, grandparents and teachers concerned about someone in their family or class has risen from less than 7% of all contacts to 28% in those three days .
“We usually get calls from children in crisis who don’t have supportive families, who are afraid of being kicked out of their home or who are afraid of being left out,” said Lance Preston, the organization’s executive director. “Parents are now calling us asking: ‘What am I going to do? What if this becomes a situation like Texas, where if I support my child, I will be investigated by CPS?” Teachers reach out and say, “What if I’m a supportive ally and my school decides that I [shouldn’t have a] license no longer? Is this election going to create a situation where I could lose my job?” ”
The weekend before the election, Rainbow’s hotline received a call from a 16-year-old Alabama boy reporting he was part of a suicide pact for four teenagers, Preston says. His colleagues were able to intervene to stop the plan.
“They had decided that if Trump won the election, they would commit suicide because that meant the American people didn’t want them here and didn’t want their existence accepted,” he says.
“I’m so grateful that that young person reached out to report that because we were able to reach the other kids, get their parents involved and put some mitigation measures in place and get them some help. But that would have been four children that we would have lost. That is unacceptable.”
Last winter, calls to Rainbow Youth from young Oklahomans more than tripled after transgender teen Nex Benedict died by suicide following months of bullying at school. The suicide occurred in February, after a fight in a girls’ restroom that Nex was required to use under a new state law.
Nine in 10 callers reported bullying at their school, Preston said at the time. Since the start of this calendar year, the organization has heard reports of nine suicides among LGBTQ teens and nine adults in the state. It now operates a crisis support center in Oklahoma City.
The Southern Equality Project, which provides support services to families in the 25 states that have banned health care for LGBTQ youth, also reports a “slight increase” in requests from families of trans youth: “Many of the requests specifically mentioned fear for Trump, a national ban or the need to leave the country for care,” says communications director Adam Polaski.
Because young people lack experience advocating and securing LGBTQ rights, Preston says, they are particularly vulnerable to political rhetoric. “They didn’t fight for these rights,” he says. “They were born with it, and now they see it being taken away.”
He and other advocates say they expect the number of calls to remain high at least through February, as a second Trump administration likely begins to act on campaign promises to end gender-affirming care and LGBTQ protections schools across the country.
“The best we can do is accept where we are, but also send a positive message to these young people that we may be heartbroken, but we are not broken,” he says. “We need to send out the positive message that we need them to stay with us. They have an army of allies behind them, and we will get through this.”
