End of the National Suicide Hotline for LGBTQIA+ people

For those who have not heard, the National 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is ending its “Press 3 option,” which matched the caller with someone knowledgeable about LGBTQIA+ issues.

https://www.thetrevorproject.org/blog/trump-administration-orders-termination-of-national-lgbtq-youth-suicide-lifeline-effective-july-17th/

When a person is LGBTQIA and calls a suicide hotline, they cannot just talk to some random cisgender straight person who tells them that they probably should stop being gay or transgender, and then all their problems will go away. A lot of people don’t trust someone unless they have reason to believe they understand what they are going through. Just like black people probably would not trust white people who have never experienced the targeted hate crimes and discrimination they face. Having special categories for minorities on a suicide hotline is essential for reasons like these.

Not everyone is the same, and if an untrained person says the wrong thing to a suicidal person at their worst moment, that person will most likely die. For this reason, I am obligated to say something about this and try to offer resources that may be helpful to my Rainbow people during difficult times.

The Trevor Project is an organization that helps LGBTQIA+ people in difficult times. I would advise you to look more into it and write the information down so that in the event you are suicidal or put into a situation where you lose your job or home due to discrimination against you for who you are, at least you will have someone to call.

https://www.thetrevorproject.org/

I will also be learning more about what they offer. After graduation, I expect I will have more time and can possibly even volunteer to help them somehow.

If anyone has more websites, links, or phone numbers I can add to this post for people contemplating suicide or facing another crisis, please comment and tell me so I can add it and update this post on all my social media.

This year is a very dangerous time. People are trying to kill my Rainbow people, and most of them are driven to suicide by people who beat them down till they have nothing left to live for.