An open letter backed by Pedro Pascal, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa and scores of other public figures urges Congress to preserve the 988 Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services after a leaked budget proposal showed plans to end its federal funding next year.
Lawmakers and mental-health groups say cutting the $50 million program would jeopardize a line that has fielded more than 1.2 million contacts since launch. The Department of Health and Human Services stresses that its draft is not final, but pressure on appropriators is intensifying as advocates warn of “lethal consequences” for vulnerable youth.
More than 250 entertainers—including Pedro Pascal, Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa—are pressing congressional appropriators to keep the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services alive, warning in an open letter that proposed cuts “will cost lives.” Addressed to the House and Senate spending committees, the appeal follows a leaked Department of Health and Human Services budget draft that eliminates the program’s roughly $50 million allocation beginning 1 October 2025.
The specialized sub-network was launched in 2022 and has handled more than 1.2 million calls, texts and chats from LGBTQ+ youth—demand that advocates say reflects disproportionate suicide risk among queer teens. The Trevor Project, one of seven service providers in the sub-network, called the cut “indefensible” in a statement, noting that LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide as their peers.
Political pressure is mounting. Senators Tammy Baldwin, Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey and Jeff Merkley last month urged Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reverse course, arguing that “suicide prevention should be non-partisan.” Dozens of House Democrats delivered a similar plea, warning that ending the service during a youth mental-health crisis is “short-sighted and dangerous.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom has seized on the issue, backing state legislation that would print crisis-line numbers on every student ID and blasting the federal proposal as “lethal.” Mental-health researchers echo that view: cutting trained LGBTQ+ responders “risks pushing callers toward silence,” said psychologist Julia Bonavitacola in the American Journal of Managed Care.
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The administration maintains that the draft remains under review. A spokesperson told Nextgov the pass-back “reflects early priorities” and that stakeholder input will inform the final FY 2026 request sent to Congress later this summer. Yet advocates fear time is short; House appropriators begin marking up the health spending bill next month, and industry groups such as the Mental Health Liaison Group are already lobbying for full restoration.
With award-season heavyweights lending their voices and Capitol Hill allies sharpening their arguments, the battle over the hotline’s funding has become a flashpoint in the broader debate over federal support for LGBTQ+ health programs. Governors, celebrities and clinicians alike are betting that public pressure will keep the line—and its lifeline—open past next year.
