From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is slamming the Trump administration’s move to shut down a LGBTQ+ youth services program within the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline as an “outrageous and cruel attack.”
In a statement today on the third anniversary of the lifeline, the Madison Dem said the administration is getting rid of a “key part” of the program that she helped create. The LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services will be closed effective tomorrow, according to an official notice from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
“I’ll fight tooth and nail to stop this administration from taking away this precious lifeline, and I call on my Republican colleagues who have long supported this program to fight for these kids, too,” Baldwin said.
The notice from SAMHSA says the lifeline will now “focus on serving all help seekers” including those that previously got help through the LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services program.
“Everyone who contacts the 988 Lifeline will continue to receive access to skilled, caring, culturally competent crisis counselors who can help with suicidal, substance misuse, or mental health crises, or any other kind of emotional distress,” the agency said. “Anyone who calls the Lifeline will continue to receive compassion and help.”
Baldwin’s release notes she wrote the legislation to create the lifeline. It has received nearly 16.5 million contacts since launching, including 11.1 million calls, 2.9 million texts and 2.4 million chats.
The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group that played a role in the lifeline program, says the service being shut down has helped provide life-saving services for more than 1.3 million young people. CEO Jaymes Black says the move is “incomprehensible.”
“The fact that this news comes to us halfway through Pride Month is callous — as is the administration’s choice to remove the ‘T’ from the acronym ‘LGBTQ+’ in their announcement,” he said in a statement last month.
See the release below.
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