Trevor at six: since 1998 sympathetic ears have worked the help line of the Trevor Project to try to prevent GLBT teen suicide
Paul VanDeCarr
“Every night I felt I made a difference .” says Diane McDonald. a former volunteer at the Trevor Project’s help line. “1 got a call from a guy in a bus station with a gun. threatening to kill himself. Or another one from a young man in a car, threatening to drive off the road. Then there were the more ordinary calls–kids who were confused or didn’t know another gay person in the world and just needed a sympathetic ear.”
One hundred sets of ears work the phones at this. the only national suicide prevention hotline aimed at gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 365 days per year. The volunteers, including some who speak Spanish. take from the toll-free number as many as 2,000 calls per month, a substantial portion from the target population of under-24 LGBTQ youth.
The help line takes its name from a the 1994 Oscar-winning short film Trevor, about a teenage Diana Ross fan named Trevor who attempts suicide after being ostracized at school.
The Trevor filmmakers decided to use their 1998 national HBO broadcast as a launchpad for a project to help real-life Trevors. The Trevor Project oversees the help line, which is managed by their partners at San Francisco Suicide Prevention; provides online resources and a teaching guide; and produces events and publicity to spread the word about the organization and suicide prevention. Executive director Jorge Valencia says the organization grows only in proportion to the need: “Our job is done when the phones stop ringing. Sadly, I don’t think we’ll see that happen for quite some time.”
COPYRIGHT 2004 Liberation Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group
