Wisconsin advocates worried about proposed cuts to LGBTQ+ trained counselors through 988 Lifeline

Mental health advocates in Wisconsin are worried about the impact of proposed cuts to trained counselors who support LGBTQ+ people when they contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Currently, anyone under the age of 25 can choose to speak with an LGBTQ+ trained crisis counselor through the 988 Lifeline. All they have to do is call 988 and then dial 3. They can also text the word PRIDE to 988, or chat with a specialist online.

But a leaked budget document revealed President Donald Trump’s administration is looking to cut funding for those specialists, according to an NPR report.

There have been nearly 1.3 million contacts with those counselors from July 2022 to February 2025, according to statistics from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Mary Kay Battaglia, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Wisconsin, said it’s important for people in the LGBTQ+ community to speak with someone who understands their situation. 

“That gives those people who are from that community the ability to feel heard and safe and respond to their unique needs at this time,” Battaglia said. “Because they have been going through a lot of stress during these last several years.” 

A 2024 survey from The Trevor Project found that 39 percent of LGBTQ+ young people “seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.” Twelve percent of LGBTQ+ young people attempted suicide in the past year, according to the survey.

In Wisconsin, the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey of high schoolers in the state found that 79 percent of LGBTQ+ students surveyed reported experiencing anxiety, 63 percent reported experiencing depression and 40 percent reported considering suicide.

Battaglia said she was “alarmed” when she heard about the proposed cuts. She’s concerned that people in the LGBTQ+ community in Wisconsin will not call 988 if the cuts go through. 

“People from the LGBTQ+ community want to speak to a peer, somebody that understands their concerns,” Battaglia said.

Tony Snell Rodriguez, the chair of the Milwaukee Equal Rights Commission, said he’s referred many people in the LGBTQ+ community to call the trained specialists through the 988 Lifeline.

“They’ve got to be able to turn to someone that they can trust and they can rely on,” Snell Rodriguez said. “This has been a lifeline for years, and they can pick up the phone and they can use it.” 

Counselors with The Trevor Project handle nearly 50 percent of the contacts for the specialized service through the 988 Lifeline, according to a statement from the group. Snell Rodriguez said those counselors have “cultural competency.”

“Somebody can speak to the issues that people are having trouble with, the challenges they face in life,” Snell Rodriguez said.

If those counselors weren’t available anymore, he said, that “puts lives at risk.” 

“There are people [who] rely and depend on these resources in their darkest moments,” Snell Rodriguez said.

A spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said the agency doesn’t have data available on how many calls in Wisconsin have been placed to the LGBTQ+ trained counselors through the 988 Lifeline.

In an email, the spokesperson wrote that nationally, “100,000 calls were made to this specialized line in January and February of this year.”

If the cuts were to go through, the spokesperson said, the department would “explore ways to enhance our support to these individuals.”

Levi Stein, the executive director of The Friendship Circle of Wisconsin, has been hosting free suicide prevention trainings in honor of late Milwaukee alder Jonathan Brostoff, who died by suicide last year.

Stein said for some people, calling 988 is the “last straw.” 

“I think we need to make sure that members of that community (LGBTQ+) or of any community … don’t feel afraid to speak up and to speak to others, to receive support, because the moment you don’t feel the support, that’s when you don’t see another way out,” Stein said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget did not respond to WPR’s request for comment.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, you can call or text the three-digit Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. Resources are also available online here.