Canada opens their LGBTQ+ Suicide Hotline to Americans

[+ Just Chuck]

Canadians are generous.

[pubic_assistance]

The suicide hotline is still open.

They combined the LGBTQXYZ+++ line with everything else. 

When I was younger, the goal was for gay people to be treated the same as everyone else. Now that this happened, they want to be treated differently. *make up your minds*

[+ sync]

27 minutes ago, pubic_assistance said:

The suicide hotline is still open.

They combined the LGBTQXYZ+++ line with everything else. 

When I was younger, the goal was for gay people to be treated the same as everyone else. Now that this happened, they want to be treated differently. *make up your minds*

Granted there is a tad more reluctant tolerance, but U.S. society in general is a looooong way from treating gay people the same as everyone else.

[Bokomaru]

36 minutes ago, pubic_assistance said:

The suicide hotline is still open.

They combined the LGBTQXYZ+++ line with everything else. 

When I was younger, the goal was for gay people to be treated the same as everyone else. Now that this happened, they want to be treated differently. *make up your minds*

That strikes me as a specious argument. We wanted the same rights as others, so that means there should be no hotline to deal with gay issues, suicide or otherwise?

If a deeply closeted gay teen is contemplating suicide because of shame regarding his sexuality, doesn’t it make sense that he would be more willing or likely to get help from someone he views as having a similar experience?  Hence the gay suicide hotline.
 

When you’re scared to death that someone will find out, the only person you want to tell is someone else who is gay. That’s my view at least, from someone who grew up in the Bible Belt, and was constantly told that I was going to Hell.

 

[pubic_assistance]

1 hour ago, Bokomaru said:

doesn’t it make sense that he would be more willing or likely to get help from someone he views as having a similar experience?  

Yes. It does make sense, that a suicidal gay teen might feel MORE comfortable speaking to a gay person, but it's rather ridiculous to assume that straight-identifying people on a suicide hotline are not competent or empathetic enough to help a gay person too. It's not another species !!... We are all human.

I worked for years with a straight-identifying pyschotherapist after the death of my son. I didn't need an LGBT therapist, to understand my sorrow from that loss. I find it insulting to assume I would need special care because of my sexuality. 

[JeffsterLA]

Maybe if gay men were kinder to each other and didn’t place looks above all, we wouldn’t have the high suicide rate we have in the first place. 

[+ sync]

On 7/29/2025 at 11:30 AM, pubic_assistance said:

Yes. It does make sense, that a suicidal gay teen might feel MORE comfortable speaking to a gay person, but it's rather ridiculous to assume that straight-identifying people on a suicide hotline are not competent or empathetic enough to help a gay person too. It's not another species !!... We are all human.

I worked for years with a straight-identifying pyschotherapist after the death of my son. I didn't need an LGBT therapist, to understand my sorrow from that loss. I find it insulting to assume I would need special care because of my sexuality. 

My heartfelt condolences for your tragic loss.  Your lengthy recovery is certainly understandable, and commendable.  I feel certain that It is very unlikely that I would have the necessary grit to move on from it.

[+ JamesB]

On 7/29/2025 at 10:30 AM, pubic_assistance said:

I worked for years with a straight-identifying pyschotherapist after the death of my son.

 

I'm truly sorry for your loss. As a father myself, I can't begin to imagine the pain of losing a child, or how I would even begin to cope with such a loss.

[Lotus-eater]

Nothing prevents states or nonprofits from having their own. Not even the state of CA (which loves to virtue signal on such matters) has its own separate hotline but like the federal government has a general hotline.

Edited 15 hours ago by Lotus-eater

[rvwnsd]

Moderator's Note: Not sure whether everyone is familiar with Snopes.com,  a fact-checking site that proves/debunks items circulating on the internet and other media. They have conducted a pretty thorough analysis of the  claim that Canada has opened its LGBTQ+ suicide line to US citizens, including contacting officials from Canada's national health system. Rather than rehash the entire analysis, I'll cut to the chase - there is no evidence that this claim is true. Here's a link to their analysis. I encourage everyone to read it.

This topic has been laid to rest and is now locked.