Trump ends funding for LGBTQ youth option on national suicide hotline

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A part of a US national suicide prevention hotline that caters for LGBTQ young people says it will soon close, after the Trump administration cut its funding. The administration has accused the service of “radical gender ideology”. It says it will still fund the wider 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline – of which the LGBTQ youth option is one part – and that all callers will receive “compassion and help”. The Trevor Project, an organisation that helped to run the LGBTQ option, said the decision would have a harmful impact on vulnerable young people.

“Suicide prevention is about people, not politics,” said Jaymes Black, the organisation’s CEO. He said his service had been told to close within 30 days. “The administration’s decision to remove a bipartisan, evidence-based service that has effectively supported a high-risk group of young people through their darkest moments is incomprehensible,” Mr Black added. The decision comes during international Pride Month, which celebrates LGBTQ culture and history. The news also arrived ahead of a US Supreme Court decision on Tuesday that upheld the state of Tennessee’s ban on transition-related healthcare for minors who identify as transgender. The general 988 Lifeline offers free mental health support via call, text, or chat. It is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a subsidiary of the US Health and Human Services Agency (HHS). Currently, LGBTQ young people can select option 3 from a call menu in order to connect with counsellors. After the changes, the remaining 988 Lifeline services would “focus on serving all help seekers”, including those who previously chose to access LGBTQ youth services, SAMHSA said. But the hotline would “no longer silo LGB+ youth services”, SAMHSA wrote in a statement, omitting the “T” and “Q” that refers to transgender and queer people in the LGBTQ acronym. Officials at HHS proposed cutting the 988 Lifeline’s LGBTQ youth services last week. In a statement to NBC News at the time, an HHS spokesperson described the option as a “chat service where children are encouraged to embrace radical gender ideology by ‘counselors’ without consent or knowledge of their parents”.

Legislation passed in 2020 by the US Congress required the 988 Lifeline to provide services and staff specifically for LGBTQ people as well as other at-risk groups like rural and Native Americans. The legislation noted that LGBTQ youth were “more than 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide than their peers, with 1 in 5 LGBTQ youth and more than 1 in 3 transgender youth reporting attempting suicide”. The law received bipartisan support – including from Donald Trump, who was then serving his first presidential term, and signed the bill into law. According to the 988 Lifeline website, LGBTQ communities are “disproportionately at risk for suicide and other mental health struggles due to historic and ongoing structural violence.” The Trevor Project began providing its services through the 988 Lifeline in 2022. In 2024, it served more than 231,000 crisis contacts, the organisation said in a statement. It says it will continue to provide its own independent services.

The decision to eliminate the 988 Lifeline’s designated LGBTQ youth option comes amid Trump’s push to curtail services, support, and access for transgender people across the federal government. He has pushed to end diversity, equity, and inclusion policies (DEI) within the federal government, arguing that such programmes are themselves discriminatory. The president has also ordered the removal of transgender servicemembers from the US military and issued an executive order that the US would only recognise two sexes – male and female. The US Department of State also announced it would no longer allow applicants to choose “X” as their gender on US passports. Instead, transgender individuals must choose “male” or “female” corresponding to their sex assigned at birth.

Hungarian police on Thursday banned the country’s main Pride march from taking place in Budapest on June 28 but the capital’s mayor defied them, vowing it would still go ahead.

Since Prime Minister Viktor Orban returned to power in 2010, Hungary has passed a series of laws which have been criticised at home and across the European Union for curtailing the rights of the country’s sexual and gender minorities in the name of “child protection”.

“The police, acting within their authority over public assemblies, prohibit the holding of the assembly at the aforementioned location and time,” the police said on their website.

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Police said the ban was necessary under recent legislation that bans the promotion of same-sex relationships to under-18s.

They said any appeal against the decision must be lodged with the central European country’s supreme court within three days.

Budapest’s liberal Mayor Gergely Karacsony vowed to hold the gathering despite the ban.

He said the police decision had “no value” because the march did not require official authorisation anyway, as it was an event organised by the city council.

“Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march on June 28 as a city event. Period,” he wrote on Facebook.

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On Monday he had announced that Budapest city hall would organise the march in an attempt to sidestep the recently adopted law.

– Mayor accused of ‘cheating’ –

One senior government figure on Wednesday accused the mayor of “trying to cheat”.

“All events of this type have to be announced, and the police have the right to ban them,” said Gergely Gulyas, head of Orban’s office.

“No serious legal expert would try to dispute that.”

In mid-March, the Hungarian parliament passed a bill aimed at banning any gathering that violates an anti-LGBTQ law adopted in 2021.

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The 2021 law prohibits the “display or promotion of homosexuality” to under-18s.

In its decision published Thursday, police said that the march “by its very nature cannot be held without the representation” of people belonging to the LGBTQ community and that under-18s could be present along the route.

“If it cannot be stated with absolute certainty that the display is not taking place in the presence of persons under 18 years of age, the assembly would be in breach of the ban,” the police said.

Hungarian lawmakers in April overwhelmingly backed constitutional changes that strengthened the legal foundations for banning the Pride march.

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– Pro-LGBTQ protests –

The government said the annual event could be held at an enclosed location like a stadium, out of sight of children.

The conflict over the Pride march has already sparked protests in Hungary.

Thousands of people blocked bridges in the capital, demanding the ban be repealed.

Several members of the European Parliament have said they will attend the parade.

European equalities commissioner Hadja Lahbib is also due to attend the march, as are ministers from several European Union countries, the organisers said.

Attendees risk a fine of up to 500 euros ($570), which the Hungarian authorities say will be channelled into “child protection” projects.

Police may use facial recognition technology to identify them.

ros-anb/jj/rlp

India Highlights News Updates: “Over the next two days, will be attending programmes in Bihar, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. These programmes cover a wide range of sectors. In Siwan, several development works will be inaugurated. These include the Vaishali–Deoria railway line project, Vande Bharat Express between Patliputra and Gorakhpur, Sewage Treatment Plants and more. In Bhubaneswar, I will be attending a programme to mark one year of the BJP Government in the state. Over the last year, numerous pro-people measures have been undertaken, ensuring all-round governance for the people. On the 21st, will take part in the Yoga Day programme in the beautiful city of Visakhapatnam,” posts PM Modi

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Police ban Budapest Pride march, but mayor vows it will go ahead

5 hours ago Share Save Nick Thorpe BBC Budapest correspondent Share Save

Getty Images The government has had Budapest’s Pride march in its sights for some time

Police have banned Hungary’s annual Budapest Pride march later this month, prompting a defiant response from liberal Mayor Gergely Karacsony. “Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march as a local event on 28 June, Period,” vowed the mayor. It’s the latest twist in a cat-and-mouse confrontation which pits nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz government, backed by the city police, against Hungary’s LGBTQ community and its supporters, with some legal backing from the courts. The annual Pride march has been in doubt since Orban announced in February that it would not take place this year, and a law was then passed restricting gatherings if they broke child protection laws on public promotion of homosexuality.

Karacsony said police had no right to ban a “Day of Freedom”, organised by the city council as an umbrella event for Pride, as it does not come under the rules on freedom of assembly. Tens of thousands of people from Hungary and abroad are expected to take part in the 28 June event. “They might as well try to ban a procession of unicorns,” the mayor wrote on Facebook. Under the new law on gatherings, passed in March, all those identified by the police as participants using facial recognition software could be fined between £14 and £420. “The protection of children trumps all other laws. And in that spirit we changed the laws, we make politics, and we will act in future,” Fidesz communications chief Tamas Menczer told news portal 444. “Pride has nothing to do with freedom of expression or freedom of assembly… Pride is a festival, the festival of a certain sexual community, which is not suitable to be seen by children.”

SZILARD KOSZTICSAK/POOL/MTI Viktor Orban’s Fidesz government has tried to bring an end to Pride marches in Hungary

Viktor Orban announced in his annual state of the nation speech last February that Pride organisers “need not bother this year”. That was followed the next month by a law restricting the right to freedom of assembly, if it fell foul of the 2021 Child Protection Law. To get around it the Rainbow Mission foundation, which organises Pride in Hungary, and other human rights groups, announced a series of events on 28 June in solidarity with Pride. But they kept authorities guessing about which event would mark Pride itself. Police attempts to ban those events were thwarted by Hungary’s Supreme Court, the Curia, in two rulings so far.

Gergely Karacsony/Facebook Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony (R) announced earlier this week that a “Day of Freedom” would take place on 28 June

Hungarian police on Thursday banned the country’s main Pride march from taking place in Budapest on June 28 but the capital’s mayor vowed to hold it despite the interdiction. People take part in the LGBTIQA+ Pride Parade in Budapest in memory of the Stonewall Riots(AFP)

Since Prime Minister Viktor Orban returned to power in 2010, Hungary has passed a series of laws which have been criticised at home and across the European Union for curtailing the rights of the country’s sexual and gender minorities in the name of “child protection”.

“The police, acting within their authority over public assemblies, prohibit the holding of the assembly at the aforementioned location and time,” the police said on their website.

Police said the ban was necessary because the march would conflict with recently passed legislation.

They said any appeal against the decision must be lodged with the central European country’s supreme court within three days.

Within moments, Budapest’s liberal Mayor Gergely Karacsony vowed to hold the gathering despite the interdiction.

“Given that the city council did not make its announcement within the ambit of the law on gatherings, this ban has no value,” Karacsony wrote on Facebook.

“Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march on June 28 as a city event. Period,” he wrote.

The police decision came three days after Karacsony announced that Budapest would organise the march in an attempt to sidestep a recently adopted law.

In mid-March, the Hungarian parliament passed a bill aimed at banning any gathering that violates an anti-LGBTQ law adopted in 2021.

The 2021 law prohibits the “display or promotion of homosexuality” to under-18s.

Protests

In its decision published on Thursday, police said that the march “by its very nature cannot be held without the representation” of people belonging to the LGBTQ community and that under-18s could be present along the route.

“If it cannot be stated with absolute certainty that the display is not taking place in the presence of persons under 18 years of age, the assembly would be in breach of the prohibition of the government,” the police said.

Hungarian lawmakers in April overwhelmingly backed constitutional changes that strengthened the legal foundations for banning the Pride march.

The government said the annual event could be held at an enclosed location like a stadium, out of sight of children.

The conflict over the Pride march has already sparked protests in Hungary.

Thousands of people blocked bridges in the capital, demanding the Pride ban law be repealed. Several EU lawmakers have said they will attend the parade.