If you’re in crisis right now in the US: call, text or chat 988 and press 3. The Trevor Project is on (866) 488-7386 or text START to 678678. Trans Lifeline is (877) 565-8860.

For 14 months, an LGBTQ+ teenager who called America’s suicide and crisis line couldn’t press a button to reach someone trained for them. As of September 30, they can again.

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s “Press 3” option, its specialised service for LGBTQ+ young people, resumed on September 30, 2026, according to The Trevor Project. It’s real good news. It also comes with two big asterisks.

How we got here

Press 3 launched as a pilot in 2022, built through a government contract with The Trevor Project. It was busy. In June 2025, its last full month, it received nearly 70,000 calls, texts and chats, and over its life it handled about 1.6 million contacts, around half of them answered by Trevor, The Advocate reported, citing the Government Accountability Office.

Then the administration pulled it. The cut was announced on June 17, 2025 and took effect on July 17, 2025, per The Trevor Project.

Congress put it back, in writing

The return wasn’t a change of heart. It was the law.

  • In September 2025, Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced the bipartisan 988 LGBTQ+ Youth Access Act, with a House version backed by members of both parties, the Washington Blade reported.
  • On February 3, 2026, Congress passed legislation requiring the services to be restored and funded with $33.1 million, according to The Trevor Project.
  • On June 9, the administration told Congress the services would restart, but would have to comply with an anti-transgender executive order.
  • On September 30, Press 3 went live again.

“I wrote it into federal law to require them to restore the Press 3 option,” Baldwin told the Blade. In a statement, she was blunter: “The Trump Administration chose to put children’s lives on the line to score some political points.”

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), who carried the bill in the House, said LGBTQ+ young people “deserve to reach a counselor trained to understand and support them.”

One thing hasn’t happened yet: the 988 LGBTQ+ Youth Access Act itself, which would make the service permanent, hasn’t passed. For now, Press 3 rests on funding law.

Asterisk one: The Trevor Project isn’t running it

The organisation that helped build Press 3 is not part of its return.

When applications opened on June 1, 988’s administrators invited only “active” crisis centres. Trevor had been classed as “inactive” since the shutdown, applied anyway, and on August 3 was formally told it was ineligible, the group said. “Our organization is not part of the restored ‘Press 3’ line,” Trevor’s communications director Zach Eisenstein told The Advocate.

HHS hasn’t named the centres that will answer Press 3 calls, The Advocate reported.

Trevor CEO Jaymes Black still welcomed the return, and said the group “will monitor the launch and usage of these important services.” Trevor’s own crisis lines never stopped: “The Trevor Project’s own 24/7 crisis lines remain available to directly support any LGBTQ+ young person in crisis.”

Asterisk two: the trans question

The Advocate asked HHS a simple question: will counselors recognise trans and nonbinary young people’s identities, names and pronouns?

HHS didn’t say yes or no. It said: “HHS remains fully aligned with President Trump’s Executive Orders to defend women from gender ideology extremism,” and that it will “restore biological truth to the federal government.” It shared no training materials or written guidance, and said it could modify or remove information about the program in the future.

That matters, because trust is the whole point of a specialised line. “I’m glad that it’s back, but I think it’s also valid to be really skeptical or concerned,” Brian Juchems of the Wisconsin group GSAFE told WKOW. He also called it “a really important return of a critical resource to the LGBT community.”

Why this still counts as a win

Both things are true. The administration that cut Press 3 now controls how it runs. And a bipartisan group in Congress forced a lifeline back into existence by writing it into law and attaching money to it. That’s not nothing in 2026.

Demand isn’t going away either. Baldwin’s office says call, text and chat volume on 988 is 15% higher than a year ago and nearly 50% higher than two years ago, the Blade reported.

The practical version

  • 988, press 3: free, 24/7, call, text or chat.
  • The Trevor Project (24 and under): (866) 488-7386, text START to 678678, or chat at thetrevorproject.org.
  • Trans Lifeline: (877) 565-8860, for transgender and gender-nonconforming people.

You’re allowed to shop around. If one line doesn’t feel right, try another. Reaching out is what matters, not which number you dial first.