During both the run up to the 2024 US presidential election, and in the immediate aftermath, LGBTQIA+ crisis hotlines reported major spikes in calls from frightened and anxious queer individuals. Young gay and trans people have now become accustomed to seeing their rights be stripped away across the US. And for some communities, the reality of Donald Trump returning to power for the next four years is a travesty too much to bear.

According to The Washington Post, the Rainbow Youth Project has received more than 3,810 calls so far this month, surpassing its monthly average of 3,765 in just six days. The Trevor Project, a group focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQ+ youths, said it saw a 125 per cent increase in calls, texts and chat messages on Election Day and on Wednesday, when compared with a regular day.

One particularly chilling story involved a 16-year-old non binary teen who explained to a hotline caller that they had made a pact with three other queer youths. If Donald Trump won the presidency, they decided that they would commit a “group suicide.” The teenager, who no longer wanted to go through with the pact, had reached out to the Rainbow Youth Project for help.

Lance Preston, executive director of the Rainbow Youth Project, told The Washington Post: “We are receiving these calls out of fear. Fear that we will lose our children to suicide and fear of the challenges this new administration will set up for us.”

The Republican party has been incredibly clear about its intentions to continue stripping away young people’s access to gender affirming care. While transgender rights have always been a hot button issue in the US, with Trump officially back in power, and Republicans controlling both  the Senate and House of Representatives, it’s truly terrifying to think of the damage that could be done.

The new president spoke at length during his election campaign about the fact that he would be prepared to block physicians who provide this care to minors from receiving federal funding from Medicaid and Medicare and to have the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate the provision of gender-affirming care, as reported by policy experts at The Guttmacher Institute.

The Trump administration could also reverse the Biden-Harris administration’s recent Title IX regulations, which strengthen protections for transgender students but are currently blocked in approximately half of US states.

In the US, suicide ranks as the second leading cause of death for children aged 10 to 14 years old and the third leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year-olds, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. LGBTQIA+ young people are also four times as likely as their peers to attempt suicide, according to the Trevor Project.

Trump’s win will have a global impact. And my heart breaks for the entire queer community in the US, who are now having to wake up every morning to a country and president that doesn’t truly recognise their right to exist.