Sen. Tammy Baldwin Pushes for Return of LGBTQ+ Option on 988 Hotline

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, left, speaks with Jacci Preuss, a 988 training supervisor for Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin, right, during a tour of the facility on Friday, June 26, 2026. Joe Schulz/WPR

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin says the Trump administration isn’t working fast enough to restore an option for LGBTQ+ youth calling into the suicide and crisis prevention hotline.

Baldwin toured a 988 call center in Green Bay on Friday, where she also held a roundtable with crisis hotline staff and local mental health advocates. The tour highlighted rising demand for the service in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Democrat has long championed the 988 hotline, having previously worked on the legislation that created the three-digit phone line.

The previous 10-digit crisis phone number was replaced with a three-digit number nationally in 2022. A new study found that the rate of suicide among 15 to 34 year olds was about 11 percent lower than expected from July 2022 to December 2024, with the sharpest declines in states with a higher volume of answered 988 calls.

“When we launched the 988 hotline four years ago, we saw a very significant increase in outreach to that line,” Baldwin said. “Ever since, we’ve been fighting to make sure that the resources are there to staff these lines, to make sure that phone calls are answered.”

The 988 Wisconsin Lifeline team has more than 100 employees responding to calls, chats, and texts from across the state, said Tana Koss, senior vice president at Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin.

Koss said the lifeline continues to see its call volumes increase. In May, it received more than 10,500 calls, an increase of around 3,000 calls from the same month last year. She said the increase comes from both growing awareness around the 988 number and rising need for services.

“Wisconsin continues to call, chat, and text when they’re in need, which we celebrate,” she said. “We’re really honored to be here when those calls, chats, and texts come in, and the demand has only continued to increase.”

This map shows roughly where the workers behind the 988 Wisconsin Lifeline are located throughout the state. Joe Schulz/WPR

But last summer, the Trump administration stopped offering the “press 3” option for LGBTQ+ youth with a month’s notice. The administration has said the service ended because its funding ran out.

Baldwin said she worked with Democrats and Republicans to write a government funding bill that requires the administration to bring the LGBTQ+ specific option back. That bill was signed into law by President Donald Trump.

During a committee hearing in April, she asked U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if he would commit to restoring the LGBTQ+ youth service.

“I do, senator, though I want to say that President Trump has a philosophy that we shouldn’t be dividing people, that we should be being inclusive,” Kennedy replied. “We are working on getting it up now.”

The administration has said it plans to bring the service back by the end of the year.

Pamphlets, cars and wristbands aimed at raising awareness for suicide prevention are see inside the Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin office on Friday, June 26, 2026. Joe Schulz/WPR

On Friday, Baldwin said they aren’t moving fast enough.

“Working on it isn’t good enough for somebody in crisis,” she said. “We really have to keep on pushing them, hold their feet to the fire. They are moving, but it’s been painfully slow.”

LGBTQ+ youth “are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers,” according to the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention nonprofit for LGBTQ+ young people.

Crystal Dubey, a social worker for Green Bay Area Public Schools, said some students and families she works with have been stressed by changes in federal policy on LGBTQ+ youth.

“With the changes in administration, I haven’t just had students in my office that are fearful,” she said. “I’ve had parents practically on their knees begging me for help: ‘What do I do? How do I protect my child? How do I make them feel safe?’ … Those are real conversations happening all the time.”

Beyond LGBTQ+ issues, mental health advocates from northeast Wisconsin also said they’ve seen a rise in mental health issues related to the cost of living, specifically housing costs, and from loneliness.

Sawyer Hobson, a 988 Lifeline Counselor at Family Services of NEW, left, speaks with U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, right, during a roundtable discussion on Friday, June 26, 2026. Joe Schulz/WPR

Brian Binder, program specialist for the Brown County Aging and Disability Resource Center, said the elderly population that he works with is facing a combination of mental health issues related to both financial hardship and social isolation.

“I could talk for a great length of time about the amount of problems that we’re seeing, whether it be housing … and financial stressors that all lead people to reach out,” he said. “We’re absolutely seeing it with our population, much higher suicide risk for the elderly, and particularly elderly males.”

Koss, with the Wisconsin Lifeline, added that mental health can affect anyone, regardless of demographics.

“Mental health issues and suicidality crosses all demographics,” she said. “You can look at age, race, gender, sexual orientation, every demographic — everything that makes us human — (and) you’ll see mental health issues or suicidality enter the picture.”

US Sen. Tammy Baldwin pushes for faster return of LGBTQ+ option on 988 hotline was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.