LGBTQ+ Youth Suicide Prevention Hotline Cuts 'Dangerous': Rep. Moulton

SALEM, MA — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton was among a group of more than 100 Democrats decrying proposed Trump Administration cuts to funding for specialized services for LGBTQ+ youth who contact the "988" National Suicide Crisis Lifeline as "shortsighted and dangerous."

The letter said that ending this mental health support for youth in distress would "devastate a vital resource for some of our nation's most vulnerable young people."

• Transgender Debate, Sharp Divisions On Display At U.S. Rep. Moulton's Peabody Town Hall

The letter said that LGBTQ+ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers, with the 988 hotline receiving an average of 2,100 contacts per day and 1.3 million calls since 2022.

Moulton was a co-author of the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020, which was signed into law by President Trump during his first term.

Moulton has been at odds with some in the LGBTQ+ community for months since his comments following the November election that he did not want his daughters getting "run over" on the athletic field by a "male or formerly male athlete."

Moulton said in January that while he is in favor of what he called "reasonable restrictions on transgender athletes in competitive sports," he would vote against the Republican "Protection of Women and Girls and Sports Act" that he called "too extreme."

Critics charged that statements like those of Moulton serve to further marginalize a transgender community that is already among the most vulnerable in society to hate, bias, depression, self-harm and suicide.

"We should be able to discuss regulations for trans athletes in competitive sports while still staunchly defending the rights of transgender Americans to simply exist without the fear or danger of
oppression," Moulton said at the time.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)