988 Colorado Mental Health Line officials announced Tuesday it will still provide support for all callers amidst operation changes ordered by the Trump administration.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced on June 17 that the Trump administration decided to nix the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline hotline’s specialty line for LGBTQ youth on July 17 — consolidating the entire service into one direct number.

In response, the Colorado Mental Health Line is “actively reviewing how state resources can be utilized to support additional outreach and education efforts to ensure all Coloradans are aware of the continuous, inclusive support available,” Gordon Coombes, Colorado’s 988 line, said in a news release Tuesday.

The Colorado rendition of 988 is supported by the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) and the 988 Enterprise Board of Directors and provides both phone and text support for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.

The 911-like system was federally mandated by the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020. Each state has a call center that puts callers in contact with live specialists, combining the National Suicide Prevention Hotline and Veterans Crisis Line under a 3-digit alias.

The LGBTQ youth program, or “Press 3” option, started in September 2022 — just a few months after the national hotline went live in July that year. 

The “Press 3” option provided LGBTQ-specialized counseling. The Trevor Project — the country’s largest LGBTQ suicide prevention initiative — and five other subcontractors provided trained staff to the hotlines. 

BHA said that the changes will not affect direct staffing with 988’s local partners as of now. 

Along with the consolidation of the lines, the administration is cutting the Trevor Project’s $26 million contract with the federal government.

“This is devastating, to say the least. Suicide prevention is about people, not politics,” Jaymes Black, CEO of the Trevor Project, said in a statement on June 18. “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.”

The LGBTQ option has served around 1.3 million callers since it started in 2022, according to the Trevor Project. 

The Trevor Project will continue its own hotline past the contract.

SAMHSA said there was a congressional directive for $29.7 million to fund the specialized services in 2023. That funding increased to $33 million in 2024. As of June 2025, more than $33 million has already been spent on the subnetwork.

The consolidation will save money and provide the same services to all callers, according to SAMHSA’s release. 

“Everyone who contacts the 988 Lifeline will continue to receive access to skilled, caring, culturally competent crisis counselors who can help with suicidal, substance misuse, or mental health crises, or any other kind of emotional distress,” SAMHSA said.

The Colorado Mental Health Line said it will continue to provide the services to anyone, as well, affirming its “unwavering commitment to providing compassionate, accessible and responsive care to all individuals in Colorado. This commitment includes youth and other higher-risk populations, regardless of gender or sexual orientation,” according to the release.

The administration did not cut the veteran subnetwork.

In May, 107 House Democrats wrote a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claiming that the move to cut the subnetwork would have “lethal consequences if enacted.”

Two Republican Congressmembers wrote a separate letter in May backing up the same idea.

Around 53% of transgender students and 45% of questioning students seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, compared with 24.0% of cisgender females and 12.1% of cisgender males, according to a 2024 study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Regarding outreach, Colorado Mental Health Line said it is looking at partnering with local organizations to let people within the LGBTQ community know that 988 is still a resource they can use for mental health help.

“The harm being done to marginalized populations is both cruel and unacceptable, and we stand with countless others in strong opposition to these actions,” Steven Haden, founder of LGBTQ mental health nonprofit in Colorado, Envision:You, told The Denver Gazette. “We call for the protection and restoration of the resources and programs that make recovery, healing and hope possible.”

“Members of this community — especially youth — are at disproportionately higher risk of suicide and behavioral health vulnerability,” BHA told The Denver Gazette Tuesday. “Our role is to ensure that all people in Colorado, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, feel safe, heard and supported when reaching out for help.”