Trump restores 988 LGBTQ+ youth crisis line. Asked about trans callers, HHS cites ‘gender ideology extremism’

For more than 14 months, LGBTQ+ young people seeking help through the nation’s suicide prevention lifeline could no longer choose the specialized service created for them. On Wednesday, that option returned without The Trevor Project, the organization that helped launch it.Sen. Tammy Baldwin and The Trevor Project separately confirmed that the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services, commonly known as “Press 3,” had resumed. The restoration follows a congressional directive and sustained pressure to reverse the Trump administration’s July 2025 shutdown.The Trevor Project welcomed the return while confirming to The Advocate that its own role in the federal program had not been restored.Related: Trump administration confirms it’s restoring LGBTQ+ youth crisis line it eliminated last year“The Trevor Project submitted a proposal to join the restored services, but that proposal was rejected,” Zach Eisenstein, the organization’s director of communications and public engagement campaigns, wrote Wednesday evening. “Our organization is not part of the restored ‘Press 3’ line.”The reopening restores a dedicated route to crisis support that Congress ordered the administration to bring back. Whether the new service will fully recognize the identities of the young people it is intended to help remains a question federal officials have yet to answer.Can trans and nonbinary young people in crisis trust it?In a Thursday morning response to The Advocate, an HHS spokesperson confirmed that the specialized service had resumed as directed by Congress. But when asked whether counselors would recognize transgender and nonbinary young people’s identities and use their chosen names and pronouns, the department reiterated its commitment to the administration’s policies.“HHS remains fully aligned with President Trump’s Executive Orders to defend women from gender ideology extremism and restore biological truth to the federal governm