LGBTQ Suicide hotline getting shut down

Well, they should look at real quantifiable metrics then. Was it effective? What was its call volume vs other crisis lines? “Lives saved” unfortunately might be a bit of an unknowable, but they must have some way of tracking utility.

Unfortunately the group that does stupid petty stuff like “don’t say gay”, takes offense at pride month, black history month, deletes civil rights related discourse, spends outsized time focusing on trans, etc, has earned negative goodwill.

 

Are you stating there is no difference in chances for a successful outcome if a gay person connects with someone in the other line with personal experience versus connecting with someone who has no close, personal connection to a gay person? I'm not saying the latter can't help. But which has the better chance at connecting?

Yes, I've never worked suicide prevention hotline. But there's big differences in calls for every other instance. And therapists differentiate by specialty. Hard to believe every suicide call is so similar that having agents specialize doesn't help at all.

 

I think you’re on to something at the end of your post.
People are feeling a common sense of hopelessness.
Gay or straight is irrelevant in times of crisis.
They need to be understood and heard…it’s paramount to rapport.

 

Bluke you're a good poster, but respectfully you worked in Alachua, not at this specialized hotline. There was a nationwide push to let LGBTQ youth know that 988, like 911, was a SAFE place they could turn to get specific help. The simplicity of 988, like 911, was the point; it was framed to become muscle memory for youth who would need it, as the Trevor Project may not have penetration in places between the coasts but a blanket three digit number would.

This off-shoot of 988 was specifically marketed to struggling youth who may not have had access to resources otherwise. It's a bit dense to view this as anything other than a referendum on the need for care for these people who certainly need it (someone else already stated the factual date of suicide rates month this group of youth far outpacing the rates for straight youths)

 

This is absurdist. The government is allowed to identify and even provide services to different classes of people. The issue with "separate but equal" is that it was purely pretextual in order to provide less services to one group (i.e., to discriminate against one group by providing services of lower quality). The goal of this program is to provide distinct versions of a service tailored to specific needs, not to provide less service to one group or another. In addition, there is no government force that prevents a person from utilizing either service (it is not illegal for a straight, cis-gendered person to call this number looking for assistance nor for a gay person or trans person or bi person to call the other number).

 

Putting LGBT issues aside for a second, are you suggesting it's all or nothing - that if we segregate sports by sex, for example, that means we have to be cool with racially-segregated water fountains?

 

And who has a better chance of understanding a gay person? Another gay person or someone with a close personal attachment to one? Or one without that attachment?

Having such experience isn't a requirement to hear and understand a gay person in time of crisis. But wouldn't it potentially help?

 

Because you aren't trying to. Who knew that water fountains were so specialized?

 

It could potentially help, but it also could potentially hurt. It seems to me the so called "community" encourages young people into that lifestyle and points them in the wrong direction many times. No one knows exactly how these troubled kids were handled when they were funneled into this specialized section of the suicide prevention hotline, so absolutely no one can say if they were cared for well or not, which is all that matters imo. I love how people are only nuanced when it pertains to them. Experience is great sometimes, but sometimes it doesn't help at all.

 

I understand your question.
Here’s the deal. People in a serious crisis feel numb.
They have an innate interest in feeling heard…
It takes accurate empathy to get down in the shit with them. Thats not easily done without proper training…
That’s the trick though. Nothing else matters when someone is that far gone. We’re talking about real depression.
What you’re addressing is more important for regular therapy sessions. Not so much of at all when the world feels hopeless and you’ve exhausted all other resources.

 

Is it reasonable to equate sexual preference, biological sex, and race/ethnicity/color?

 

Isn’t 988 a generic number or do they have you press 1 for straight 2 for gay?

 

I don't think so generally but, for example, I do believe that sex-based discrimination (subject to intermediate scrutiny) is relevant to analyzing an issue such as same sex marriage.

 

Youths still have a hotline to call. They still have a person who will hear them. A trained individual who is there to help in time of crisis. That hasn’t changed. This is an emergency hotline, right (seriously asking.. this so for last ditch emergencies) this isn’t a therapy or psychiatric line.
It’s like an emt using an EpiPen as a last resort to save a kid going into anaphylactic shock. It may not be the very best answer for the child’s overall needs… but it’s what’s needed to get that kid to a safe space (hospital) so that longer term care can be prescribed.Not a great analogy but better than the broken leg!
In most of these instances sexual orientation, gender, race, etc.. are not major factors. The only focus is preventing self harm and getting the individual to someone who can help. That may be a therapist that specializes in trans kids or gay kids or black family dynamics or child abuse ir whatever. But the suicide hotline isn’t where those things usually take place.

 

One important distinction here is sports are not a public service provided by the government. Secondly, though, the consequences are detrimental for women who are seriously disadvantaged when competing against men in sports. Women would lose out on athletic scholarships if sports were desegregated. You could do a forced desegregation followed up by forcing Title IX on athletic scholarships, playing time, player salaries, etc in a desegregated sports landscape, but no one wants that maybe except for some really messed up people. That would represent following all of this ideology and propaganda surrounding identity politics in the past couple of decades to its final logical conclusion, though. That and making sure the NBA, the NFL, etc meet their roster and organizational DEI quotas to ensure a diverse, equitable, and inclusive professional sports landscape.

Nonetheless, things like segregated bathrooms and segregated sports teams are based on biological and physiological differences between men and women.

@exiledgator makes an interesting point here landing on the doctor analogy, although he probably did not intend to follow it all of the way to its conclusion. People who have skin related issues go to a doctor who specializes in treating skin related issues. People who have mental problems go to a psychiatrist or a psychologist. It sounds like a great argument initially, but those are medical conditions people have that require highly specialized treatment by medical professionals. It is argued as a matter of orthodoxy that LGB are not medical conditions that require special medical treatment. Gender cannot be identified physically…but T is both a medical condition to be treated, but is also an identity to be celebrated. But all of them need specialized psychological services for treatment, although most of them are not medical conditions and all of them are identity groups who need their own separate but equal exclusive government services. It is a very interesting pretzel of a belief system.

 

We need a hotline for our local libbies, they get upset of everything.

 

It is really not that complicated. Mental healthcare treats mental conditions (such as depression, PTSD, anxiety disorders, etc.) that are often caused by things that are not themselves mental or medical conditions. So, the fact that somebody is bullied or disowned by their family because they are gay does not make being gay a "medical condition" that itself needs to be "solved" but requires distinct treatment, as it is not an issue not really faced by too many straight people (and depression differs between people). I would imagine the people cut off from their family due to being straight or cisgendered is pretty limited.

I am sympathetic to Bluke's position here that it isn't necessary in this particular service, but it is clearly something that requires distinct treatment over the long-term.

 

I assume most that call are humans. Not sure what other specialization is needed.

 

Good thing humans are so homogenous....

 

Many here are discussing their feelings.. what they believe should happen or does happen. A select few are discussing their experience in the field with this sort of thing.
Big difference.