Calls to LGBTQ+ crisis line surge as Trump sworn in as president
Calls to an LGBTQ+ crisis helpline surged during Donald Trump’s inauguration, a youth charity has revealed. (Getty)
Calls to an LGBTQ+ crisis helpline surged during Donald Trump’s inauguration, a youth charity has revealed.
Trump was sworn in as the 47th US president on Monday (20 January), immediately signing a raft of executive orders, including taking aim at immigration and trans and non-binary people, and saying he would end “government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life”.
Now, Rainbow Youth Project USA Foundation has told The Advocate that they received 1,400 calls to a national hotline by early afternoon that day, a figure far higher than normal.
Kristen Johnston, a case manager and crisis team leader, said: “Our hotline serves as a critical lifeline for LGBTQ+ youth grappling with the challenges of bullying, social stigmatisation and the looming threat of institutionalised discrimination.
“The data we’re seeing is alarming, and it underscores the urgent need for advocacy, community support and immediate action to protect our youth.”
The charity usually handles about 3,765 calls per month but the monthly figure increased to more than 8,000 following Trump’s election triumph on 5 November. In the 19 days leading up to his inauguration alone, the hotline fielded 3,925 calls.
And they weren’t the only not-for-profit organisation to see a rise in calls.
In the two days leading up to the election, a spokesperson for The Trevor Project revealed that conversations on its crisis lines based on key words related to the election rose by nearly 200 per compared with the days between 29 October and 2 November.
The Trevor Project’s chief executive, Jaymes Black, said that while the rise was “alarming”, the team was “not surprised to see that the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ politics of the past few years continue to harm young people’s mental health”.
Black went on to say: “The current political environment in the US is heavy but it is so important for LGBTQ+ young people to know that they do not have to shoulder this weight alone. The Trevor Project’s counsellors are here 24/7 for any young person who needs support and we will never stop fighting for your right to be safe, supported and seen exactly as you are.”
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