In mid-April 2025, claims circulated online that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., proposed the elimination of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline's Specialized Services for LGBTQ+ Youth.
Users across social media platforms such as X (archived), TikTok (archived) and Reddit shared their concern over the claim, citing the negative effects it could have on a marginalized group that has been persistently targeted by the Trump administration. Snopes readers also reached out via email and social media to ask about the truth behind the claim.
It's one insane thing after another with RFK Jr….now it comes out that HHS planning to cut the National Suicide Hotline's program for LGBTQ youth that on average gets 2,100 contacts per day….cruelty is the point with this heartless bastard
https://t.co/jVN3XghYYD pic.twitter.com/GcWHhEBH02— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) April 22, 2025
The line item allegedly appeared in a 64-page "preliminary budget document" (archived) dated April 10, 2025, that "offers the first full look at the health and social service priorities of President Donald Trump's Office of Management and Budget as it prepares to send his 2026 fiscal year budget request to Congress," according to The Washington Post. Though the document appears to be authentic, Snopes has yet to confirm its veracity independently.
Following up on The Washington Post's broad-level reporting, Mother Jones published an article linking to the document and pulled out the line item in question.
The key line comes on Page 14, which outlines sweeping cuts for mental-health resources that the document notes used to be housed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
SAMHSA underwent significant cuts amid the Trump administration's dismantling of federal infrastructure with the purported goal of efficiency. The New York Times reported in March 2025 that "many drug policy experts say SAMHSA is the federal agency most directly responsible" for a decrease in drug overdoses in the U.S. since 2023.
With these changes, the proposed 2026 budget for mental health and substance abuse resources centers programs previously operating under SAMHSA under the newly formed Administration for a Healthy America, which will also be "comprised of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)," according to Behavioral Health Business, a news organization that "covers the rapidly growing and critical behavioral health sector."
The summary paragraph for the mental health portion of the proposed budget reads (emphasis ours):
The Budget funds the 988 Suicide Prevention and Crisis Lifeline at 2024 Enacted Ievels. The Budget maintains the $10 million for specialized services for Spanish speakers seeking access to 988 services through texts or chats and eliminates the 2024 Congressionally-directed set-aside within the 988 for Specialized Services for LGBTQ+ Youth.
(Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 2026 Discretionary Budget Passback)
For context, "enacted levels" are the amount of funds that were actually received vs. the amount proposed. According to SAMHSA's operating budget for 2024, the enacted amount for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline was $519,618,000, which matches the amount proposed in the purported AHA budget.
According to the SAMHSA budget, $33.1 million of that money was allocated to the Specialized Services for LGBTQ+ Youth in 2024, up from $29.7 million in 2023.
The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization advocating for legislation and education that helps prevent suicide among LGBTQ+ youth, published a blog post about the proposed budget on its website.
According to the organization, The Trevor Project served "nearly 50% of the LGBTQ+ youth specialized services' contact volume. In 2024 alone, The Trevor Project directly served more than 231,000 crisis contacts, and trained and supported nearly 250 crisis counselors and operational support staff through the 988 Lifeline."
The group's CEO, Jaymes Black, added: "Ending the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline's LGBTQ+ youth specialized services will not just strip away access from millions of LGBTQ+ kids and teens — it will put their lives at risk."
Black said that "these programs were implemented to address a proven, unprecedented, and ongoing mental health crisis among our nation's young people with strong bipartisan support in Congress and signed into law by President Trump himself."
Indeed, though the 988 Lifeline launched in 2022 during Joe Biden's presidency, Trump signed the bill into law during his first term in 2020.
According to SAMHSA data, last updated in March 2025, 988's LGBTQ youth services routed more than 1.2 million crisis contacts since its 2022 launch. Crisis contacts reached an all-time high in November 2024, coinciding with the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Snopes reached out to HHS, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the Trevor Project and the White House for confirmation of the veracity of the alleged budget document and comment on the proposed cut of the Specialized Services for LGBTQ+ Youth but has not heard back as of this publication. We will update this article with a definitive rating should its authenticity be confirmed by a primary source.