Suicide hotlines received a record number of calls after Trump was elected


Suicide prevention hotlines received a landslide of phone calls late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning as the election turned in favor of Donald Trump, The Verge reports. "We haven't seen anything like that in our history," National Suicide Prevention Lifeline director John Draper said.
The National Suicide Prevention Hotline received 660 calls in the single hour between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. Wednesday, over twice as many as average. The Crisis Text Line was also contacted twice as much as normal Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, with the words "election" and "scared" being used most often, with "scared" usually paired with "LGBTQ." The Trans Lifeline received a record 432 calls by Wednesday afternoon. Prior to the election, the most calls the Trans Lifeline had received in a single day were 251, when North Carolina passed its bathroom bill.
Future vice president Mike Pence is a major concern for LGBTQ people in particular, as he has rolled back laws preventing the discrimination of LGBTQ people in order to protect the freedom of religion. He also supported North Carolina's bill requiring transgender people to use bathrooms matching their birth certificate gender and believes in conversion therapy, which is based on the idea that LGBTQ people can be "cured." Additionally, Trump's promise to deport undocumented immigrants and his rhetoric about women have many other people scared of what's potentially to come.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Memphis-based psychotherapist Quinn Gee told The Verge three of her clients between 10 and 14 needed to be put on emergency suicide hold after the election because their parents were either undocumented immigrants or gay. "A lot of people just couldn't believe that somebody who openly ran on all of these terrible things was supported by a large majority of white people," Gee said. "It was like, 'Oh my god, so you really hate me.'"
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
July 19 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include a Medicaid time bomb, and Donald Trump's fixation with the Fed's Jerome Powell
-
5 hilariously cutting cartoons about the Department of Education
Cartoons Artists take on being rotten to the core, budget cuts, and more
-
Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) recipe
The Week Recommends German dish is fresh, creamy and an ideal summer meal
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
A long weekend in Zürich
The Week Recommends The vibrant Swiss city is far more than just a banking hub
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
-
Giant schnauzer wins top prize at Westminster show
Speed Read Monty won best in show at the 149th Westminster Kennel Club dog show
-
Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar take top Grammys
Speed Read Beyoncé took home album of the year for 'Cowboy Carter' and Kendrick Lamar's diss track 'Not Like Us' won five awards
-
The Louvre is giving 'Mona Lisa' her own room
Speed Read The world's most-visited art museum is getting a major renovation
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talks
Speed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively