Trump admin. announced funding cuts for Trevor Project-linked hotline last month
A leaked recording of a counseling session with a controversial LGBT activist group appeared to endorse a fictional teen’s plan to leave home and move in with her coach, who promised to facilitate access to cross-sex hormones and a double mastectomy.
The recording, shared by “mom activist” Beth Bourne, captures a conversation where Bourne, posing as a 15-year-old girl identifying as a transgender boy, described feeling unsafe at home due to her mother’s alleged misgendering. After telling an unidentified Trevor Project crisis counselor that she felt unsafe at home after she was “misgendered,” Bourne asked if moving into her softball coach’s house was a good idea since he “promised to help me get online [testosterone] and my breasts removed.”
The counselor responded, “Yeah, yeah, that makes sense,” adding, “It sounds like her feelings about this have gotten worse over time. And it sounds like you have two options, maybe, to leave the situation and find a better space for yourself.” The counselor then asks, “What would it be like to go live with your coach?”
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The conversation escalated as Bourne detailed the coach’s promises, including help with emancipation papers and post-surgery recovery. The counselor continued to validate the plan, stating, “Sounds like it maybe hit a point where you need to see some change. And it sounds like moving in with your coach or filing those emancipation papers is a way to do it.” The call abruptly ended with Bourne saying, “Oh, you know what? I gotta go. She’s just coming in the house.”
Bourne, a vocal critic of gender ideology in California schools, posted the recording on X, calling the counselor’s advice “insanity” and labeling The Trevor Project a “transgender child-trafficking org disguised as a ‘suicide support for [LGBT] youth’ org.” Her posts, including the transcript and a link to the audio, have garnered more than 768,000 views since July 12.
The controversy comes nearly a month after the Trump administration’s decision to terminate a $26 million contract with the Trevor Project by eliminating a specialty hotline for LGBT-identified youth.
On Thursday, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) ended what the government called “LGB+ youth services” under its 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The move, which was first announced on June 17, eliminates the so-called “Press 3” option, which, if selected, directs the hotline caller to LGBT-specialized counseling provided by the Trevor Project and five other subcontractors.
More than $33 million in taxpayer funding has supported the “Press 3” services, fully expending the monies allocated for the hotline, according to SAMHSA.
In response to the funding cuts, Trevor Project’s CEO, Jaymes Black, who identifies as non-binary, called it “devastating,” arguing that not receiving taxpayers’ money removes a “bipartisan, evidence-based service.”
A statement from Black added, “The program was created with overwhelming bipartisan support because, despite our political differences, we should all agree that every young person’s life is worth saving. I am heartbroken that this administration has decided to say, loudly and clearly, that they believe some young people’s lives are not worth saving.”
Since 2022, the Trevor Project has faced criticism from conservative groups for providing LGBT propaganda curriculum for public schools, including one activity adopted by the Vista Unified School District (VUSD) in San Diego, where students were reportedly required to participate in a role-playing exercise called “Coming Out Stars.” The activity instructed students to imagine “each of you is now gay or lesbian, and you are about to begin your coming out process.”
