Between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. on Wednesday, even when the outcome wasn't certain yet, the phone at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline rang 660 times. It was a surprising volume for that hour - 2.5 times the normal volume to be exact. This shows the extreme anxiety that Americans felt during the election cycle. The U.S. Presidential elections stoked fearful crisis calls unmatched in the hotline's entire history.
LBGTQ Community Placed The Most Number Of Crisis Calls
The LBGTQ community are fearful that the steps made towards gender equality will be made useless. Steve Mendelsohn, spokesperson for the The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ youth, said: "We have made so much progress over the past few years, and there's a fear that we're going to backwards and LGBTQ people are going to lose their rights. Young people are worried about their futures."
Similarly, the Crisis Text Line also reported an increase in volume. On Wednesday, the number of people reaching out to the text hotline doubled to over 2,000 in the last 24 hours. Majority of the texts came from the LGBTQ teens or friends of those who identify as LGBTQ.
LBGTQ Community Fears Gender Discrimination And Harassment Once Again
Bob Filbin, Chief Data Scientist of the Crisis Text Line said: "Last night, it was specifically about being LGBTQ. They were scared about the results of the election and how that might impact them or their friends. A lot of the concerns were around policy and how policy might change at the state or federal level."
According to Greta Martela, co-founder and executive director of Trans Lifeline: "Trans people face very real harassment and discrimination, and I think a lot of people had very much hoped it would get better. It's very hard to believe it will get better in the next four years, which is a very long time to wait."
