LGBTQ+

Calls To LGBTQ Suicide And Crisis Hotlines Spike After Election Day

A crisis and suicide prevention group for LGBTQ youth said its call volume doubled and that 95 percent of callers wanted to talk about the election.

Calls To LGBTQ Suicide And Crisis Hotlines Spike After Election Day
Matt Buck / CC BY SA 2.0
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Crisis and suicide hotlines have been flooded with calls and texts since the presidential election was decided.

Crisis Text Line — a service that connects people and counselors via text — says it saw eight times its normal amount of texts early Wednesday morning.

A spokesperson for the service said that "scared" was one of the most common words they came across, and it was often associated with "LGBTQ."

SEE MORE: Why LGBTQ Republicans Hate The Party's Platform But Like Donald Trump

The Trevor Project — a crisis and suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ youth — said its call volume doubled and that 95 percent of those calling wanted to talk about the election.

And according to its Facebook page, Trans Lifeline received "more calls than ever before" the night of the election.

In July after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Trump told a crowd at the Republican National Convention that if elected, he'd work to protect LGBTQ individuals "from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology."

But Trump's website doesn't list any official LGBTQ policies, and some fear he will overturn several protections signed by President Barack Obama, including sections of the Affordable Care Act and an executive order that repealed the ban of openly LGBTQ individuals serving in the military.

Many are also concerned with Vice President-elect Mike Pence's history of supporting conversion therapy — a controversial practice that's opposed by major medical organizations.

There have been several reports of suicides by LGBTQ people linked to fear and anxiety over the election results.

A 2014 report found that 41 percent of transgender people surveyed had attempted suicide, nearly 10 times the rate for the U.S.' general population.

If you need to talk to someone about suicide prevention, contact these organizations:

-The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255

-Crisis Text Line by texting 741-741

-Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860