Pedro Pascal, Orville Peck, and Ariana Grande sign letter supporting LGBTQ+ suicide prevention funding
Over 100 stars, including the likes of Pedro Pascal, Orville Peck, and Ariana Grande, have signed an open letter to the White House imploring them to protect federal funding for LGBTQ+ suicide prevention.
The letter comes following a news report back in April that claimed the US Department of Health and Human Services within Donald Trump’s government are allegedly set to slash more than $50million previously set aside for crisis support for LGBTQ young people.
The start of the letter, released via the US LGBTQ+ charity The Trevor Project on June 2nd, read: “As artists, creators, and public figures, our platforms come with responsibility. And today, that responsibility is clear: we must speak out to protect the mental health and lives of LGBTQ+ youth,” adding: “We will not stay silent.”
It notes that the issue is “about people, not politics,” before explaining that previous federal funding has helped to facilitate “nearly 1.3million crisis contacts with life-saving, affirming care to LGBTQ+ young people during their most vulnerable moments. Suicide among LGBTQ+ youth is a public health crisis, and it should be treated as such.”
Among the many other signatories of the letter included actors Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Paulson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Alan Cumming, as well as musicians Troye Sivan, Dua Lipa, and Sabrina Carpenter.
Concluding their appeal to the White House, the stars said: “At a time of deep division, let this be something we as people can all agree on: no young person should be left without help in their darkest moment.”
They continued: “Stripping away this lifeline leaves LGBTQ+ youth with the message that their lives are not worth saving. We refuse to accept that message.”
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