What to know
- LGBT YouthLine is seeking to raise $150,000 through an emergency appeal as it faces a multi-year funding deficit.
- The organization says demand is rising, with their team supporting more than 2,600 2SLGBTQ+ youth annually.
- Funding has dropped sharply in recent years, with corporate and foundation support falling from over $602,000 in 2023 to just over $202,000 in 2025, alongside declining individual donations.
Supporting some of the most vulnerable youth in the province, LGBT YouthLine says it is facing a growing financial crisis as demand for its services continues to rise.
Being a young person is hard, and being a young marginalized person can be even harder. When facing barriers like homophobia and transphobia, it can be tough to know who to talk to or where to turn. Enter LGBT YouthLine.
Supporting 2SLGBTQ+ young people in Ontario for over 30 years, LGBT YouthLine is a peer support service offering help through anonymous text and phone lines. Despite helping thousands of people through various crises, the organization is currently facing a major crisis of its own: a lack of funds.
First opening in 1994, the organization has faced precarious funding over the decades, including a recent multi-year deficit. This financial crisis comes at the same time they’ve witnessed a major increase in demand for their services.
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“Young people that we serve, including our volunteers, are facing more difficulty,” YouthLine Executive Director Lauren Prague told Queer & Now. “It’s not a very friendly time towards our communities.”
Looking to continue meeting the needs of thousands of young people, YouthLine has launched an emergency appeal to fundraise $150,000 to maintain its services through the current fiscal year.
Rise in demand amid growing hate towards 2SLGBTQ+ Canadians
The organization supports over 2,600 2SLGBTQ+ youth annually, with hundreds of youth reaching out each month. To support this demand, YouthLine has trained approximately 300 volunteers over the past five years, with these young people going on to provide peer support and foster community connections across Ontario.
The organization says that social barriers were the main issue driving young people to seek support. About 31 per cent were struggling with isolation, while another 31 per cent reached out about relationship issues. Additionally, 30 per cent sought support coming out to friends, family, and peers. These concerns, Prague shares, are only being intensified by growing hostility toward 2SLGBTQ+ communities.
National data shows an alarming rise in anti-2SLGBTQ+ sentiment across the country, with hate crimes targeting sexual orientation more than tripling between 2020 and 2023, while those targeting gender identity/expression have nearly tripled since 2020.
“In recent years, the need for our services has really increased, while online misinformation and attacks on especially trans youth rights have really expanded,” Prague shared.
Over recent years, the organization has seen a steady decline in one-time donations, dropping from more than $81,000 in 2022 to roughly $45,000 in 2024. Corporate and foundation grants have also sharply decreased, falling from over $602,000 in 2023 to just over $202,000 in 2025.
Prague says the decline reflects broader political and cultural shifts surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
“There have been a lot of anti-DEI sentiments, and corporate corporations and government funding for our sector overall has decreased,” she explained.
Prague shared that LGBT YouthLine experienced a major increase in government support during the pandemic, when federal funding nearly doubled from roughly $197,000 in 2019 to nearly $389,000 in 2020. This included money from the 2SLGBTQI+ Community Capacity Fund, which Prague shared helped YouthLine expand its staff from roughly five employees to more than 15. However, that funding ended in 2022, creating new financial pressures as the organization attempted to maintain services and staffing levels.
Mental healthcare for Queer & Trans youth
More than a helpline, Prague says YouthLine’s team views the work they do as a form of preventative mental health care for Queer and Trans youth, many of whom face disproportionately high rates of mental health struggles, discrimination, and isolation.
“We just want to be able to maintain our commitment to being there for young people and offering them an anonymous peer support model,” she said. “We understand our services as being part of the overall healthcare system and social service.”
Data shows that 2SLGBTQ+ youth in Canada face significantly higher rates of mental health challenges compared with their cisgender and heterosexual peers. According to the 2022 Mental Health and Access to Care Survey, 27 per cent of Queer and Trans youth between 15-24 met the criteria for a major depressive episode in the previous year, compared to 10.5 per cent of cisgender/heterosexual youth. Meanwhile, about 25 per cent of 2SLGBTQ+ youth reported experiencing suicidal thoughts, a rate five times higher than their non-2SLGBTQ+ peers.
With the importance of their services in mind, LGBT YouthLine’s team says that right now, the goal is not expansion, but survival.
“We’re not necessarily looking for growth,” Prague said. “We just want to be able to maintain our service.”
