Sing Out, Louise | The Trevor Project Hotline

The Trevor Project Hotline

Once I figured out I had to lie about my age (surely it won’t be the last time!) to access the gentle fairies on the other end of this gay teen suicide hotline, it proved to be a pretty great resource during the Winter of My Discontent.

It’s free, open 24/7, and anonymous, and with the exception of one or two bad apples, I’ve had great luck with the volunteers. Unlike the people who pick up the phone on most normal crisis hotlines, who are probably high school seniors trying to get peer counseling credit, or Stay At Home Moms indulging in pat-yourself-on-the-back voyeurism, my Trevor buddies are true kindred spirits, sensitive, wounded and misunderstood.

When you call, you can hear snippets of other conversations in the background. If you stop to think about that, it’s sort of eerie - a bunch of faint, disembodied voices trying to convince gay kids not to kill themselves. I’ve overheard the following sentences:

“You have to remember you aren’t that little boy anymore. He’s gone.”

“Can you think of one thing to wake up for tomorrow? Maybe a bird singing outside your window?”