California Gov. Gavin Newsom listens to community leaders speak during a press conference at Controlled Thermal Resources "Hell's Kitchen" geothermal and lithium drill site in Calipatria, Calif., on Monday, March 20, 2023. Governor Newsom Tours Lithium Valley 5638
Sacramento, California – California Governor Gavin Newsom is urgently taking a public stand against the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding to LGBTQ-specific crisis services. He is throwing his support behind a bill that would mandate to print the Trevor Project’s suicide prevention hotline number on every public middle and high school student ID card in the state, a move that cannot wait.
The move, revealed exclusively to Politico, follows a string of policy clashes between Newsom and the White House. Just last week, California sued the Trump administration over tariffs and joined another suit challenging cuts to AmeriCorps. Now, Newsom is directly targeting federal rollbacks to mental health support for vulnerable youth.
“Suicide is the second leading cause of death among LGBTQ youth. Cutting off kids’ access to help is indefensible,” Newsom said in a statement. “While the Trump administration walks away from its responsibility, California will continue to expand access to life-saving resources, because the life of every child — straight, gay, trans — is worth fighting for.”
The bill in question, AB 727, is authored by freshman Assemblymember Mark González (D-Los Angeles). If passed, it would add the Trevor Project’s hotline — a leading national suicide and crisis intervention service for LGBTQ youth — to the back of all student ID cards, alongside the general 988 national suicide hotline number already required by a 2018 law. This could potentially save countless lives.
The proposal comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly plans to slash funding for nonprofit networks like the Trevor Project, which specialize in LGBTQ counseling services and are part of the national 988 hotline infrastructure.
Supporters of the bill argue that the added visibility could be life-saving. However, the legislation has drawn criticism from conservative advocacy groups and some Republican lawmakers, who argue that it politicizes school resources.
At a hearing earlier this month, Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) voiced concerns. “If you go right now to the Trevor Project website, there are a number of resources provided that are very political in nature,” Hoover said. “There is access to a number of things that I would argue a lot of parents would be uncomfortable with.”
Despite the pushback, mental health advocates in California, regardless of their political affiliations, are rallying around the measure. The California Youth Crisis Line, another statewide 24/7 service that fields more than 17,000 calls annually, also supports the bill, noting the urgent need for specialized help for LGBTQ youth. This bipartisan support shows just how important this issue to both sides of the aisle.
With suicide rates among queer youth persistently high, and federal support potentially vanishing, Newsom’s latest battle with the Trump administration reflects a growing divide over how — and whether — to protect the nation’s most vulnerable teens.
