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Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
The mother of an L.A. teen who took his own life is fighting for a new mental health tool for LGBTQ+ youth
Bridget McCarthy believes that if her son Riley Chart had quick and easy access to a suicide prevention hotline designed for queer young people, he might be alive today. Chart, a trans teen who had once endured bullying because he was different, took his own life at the family's home during the COVID-19 lockdown in September 2020 — two weeks after his 16th birthday. 'I truly believe that had there been an LGBTQ-specific [help] number right in front of him, he would've tried it,' McCarthy said. State lawmakers are set to vote in August on a bill that McCarthy and its sponsors say could save the lives of other young queer Californians. California Assembly Bill 727 would require ID cards for public school students in grades 7 through 12 and students at public institutions of higher education to list the free LGBTQ+ crisis line operated by The Trevor Project on the back, starting in July 2026. The Trevor Project is a West Hollywood-based nonprofit that the federal government cut ties with when it eliminated funding for LGBTQ+ counseling through the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (9-8-8). The lifeline was expected to stop routing crisis calls to The Trevor Project and six other LGBTQ+ contractors Thursday. It's one of several actions in the second Trump administration that critics fear will roll back years of progress of securing health-care services for queer Americans. 'When the Trump administration threatened and then went through with their threat to cut the program completely, that told us that we had to step up to the plate,' said Democratic Assemblymember Mark González of Los Angeles, who said he introduced the legislation to ensure that queer youth receive support from counselors who can relate to their life experiences. 'Our goal here is to be the safety net — especially for those individuals who are not in Los Angeles but in other parts of the state who need this hotline to survive.' California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, the L.A. LGBT Center and the Sacramento LGBT Center all have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill. Gov. Gavin Newsom told Politico the Trump administration's 9-8-8 decision was 'indefensible' and that he also backs the bill. His office said the state's $4.7 billion Master Plan for Kids' Mental Health includes partnerships with organizations such as The Trevor Project. González said the bill originally included private schools but in response to conservative opposition, the mandate was amended so it would be limited to public schools. With federal funding for the LGBTQ+ crisis counselors who field calls through the 9-8-8 lifeline running out on Thursday, local nonprofits and elected officials have vowed to fill the void. L.A. County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Lindsey P. Horvath authored a motion to explore the impact of the cut and see whether the county can help to continue the service. The board unanimously approved it Tuesday. 'The federal government may be turning its back on LGBTQ+ people, but here in L.A. County we'll do everything within our power to keep this community safe,' Hahn said in a statement after the vote. About 40% of young queer people in the U.S. have seriously contemplated suicide compared to 13% of their peers, according to a teen mental health survey published last fall by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Trevor Project and other organizations have reported a rise in the number of people calling crisis lines to seek mental health support, both in California and nationwide. Trans Americans have been particularly shaken by the backlash against LGBTQ+ people and by the prospect of new restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare, according to new findings published this week by researchers at the University of Vermont. Their survey of 489 gender-diverse adults after the 2024 election, published Wednesday in JAMA Open Network, found that nearly a third of those interviewed would consider risky DIY hormone therapies if treatments disappear elsewhere. A fifth of respondents reported having suicidal thoughts. As the mother of a trans child who died from suicide, McCarthy said she wants to use the lessons she's learned to educate and advocate for other trans young people and their families in similar situations. McCarthy, who lives in Culver City, has started a memorial fund with The Trevor Project, organized suicide prevention walks in West L.A. and attended Pride festivals to hand out crisis line information. She remembers Riley as an artistic and warmhearted son who joined LGBTQ+ groups and built a network of friends while attending high schools in both Santa Monica and Culver City. Riley had a therapist for support living as a trans teen, but during the pandemic, he found it hard to cope with not being able to spend time in person with his friends. The confinement made him increasingly irritable. He was staying up later than usual and spending excessive time on his phone, McCarthy said. After Riley died, the family discovered that he'd texted a gay friend for help. 'The only other number in his phone was a 10-digit veterans hotline number — that he did not call,' McCarthy said. 'That's why you have to have a lifeline that speaks to different populations. A veterans hotline will not work for a 16-year-old kid who's struggling with their identity.' When Riley was 12, McCarthy took him to the Pride parade in West Hollywood hoping that he would experience the feeling of belonging that he seemed to yearn for. He loved it. 'Ry said he'd found his people,' McCarthy recalls, using the family's nickname for him. 'He was like, 'This is it — I'm home, mom.'' When Riley's mother took him to Pride a second time the following year, he bought a trans pride flag that became one of his prized possessions. 'He was wrapped in it when he went, when he left us,' McCarthy said. McCarthy spoke by phone from one of Riley's favorite places, Lummi Island in Washington state, near the U.S.-Canada border. The family laid Riley's remains on the island and McCarthy goes to visit the grave site four times a year to care for the maple tree planted in his memory, admire the painted stones his friends placed around it and talk to her son. McCarthy said she and Riley visited family friends on the island almost every year when he was younger. Especially during middle school when he faced bullying from classmates and issues over which restroom to use, the island served as a refuge where McCarthy saw her son at his most carefree. He loved climbing trees, swimming and herding cows, far from the pressures of being a kid in L.A. 'When you'd open the car door, it was just like opening the barn gate,' McCarthy remembers. 'Like a colt across a field, he would just run. It gave us a chance for some peace.'
Los Angeles Times
09-07-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
National suicide prevention hotline plans to stop offering LGBTQ+ youth counseling. Queer advocates in L.A. wonder what's next
Amy Kane was filled with dread when she heard that the national suicide prevention lifeline would stop offering specialized crisis intervention to young LGBTQ+ Americans and end its partnership with the West Hollywood-based Trevor Project. With the service set to end July 17, Kane, a therapist who identifies as lesbian, believes the Trump administration is sending a clear message to queer Americans: 'We don't care whether you live or die.' Since it launched in 2022, more than 1.3 million queer young Americans struggling with a mental health crisis have dialed the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which gave them the option to press '3' to connect with a specialist trained to address their unique life experiences. As the largest of seven LGBTQ+ contractors, the Trevor Project alone handles about half of all volume from queer callers to the 988 line. The government's decision is yet another broadside from an administration whose actions have left queer public health advocates and providers reeling, including at the Los Angeles LGBTQ Center, where Kane serves as director of mental health services. Under pressure from the Trump administration, Children's Hospital Los Angeles sent letters to families in early June saying it planned to suspend its healthcare program for transgender children and young adults in late July. The LGBTQ Center and other groups have demanded that the hospital reconsider. Around the same time came the news about the 988 line and the Trevor Project, a nonprofit founded in 1998 by the makers of the Academy Award-winning short film 'Trevor' — about a teen who attempts suicide — to address the absence of a major prevention network tailored to the needs of queer youth. 'So much has been thrown our way in the last five months,' Kane said. 'It's across the board. It's not just mental health. We see what's happening with gender-affirming care, dramatic cuts in research for HIV and STIs. … What's next?' Given L.A.'s status as a haven for LGBTQ+ people — the first permitted Pride parade took place in Hollywood in 1970 — Kane wonders whether the recent moves are an attempt to intimidate and punish Californians for being so welcoming. The threats aren't just coming from Washington. Kane said that she and other leaders had to lobby state legislators recently to preserve funding for a queer women's preventive-healthcare program offered through the L.A. LGBTQ Center that was to be revoked due to a state budget shortfall. For now, the program has been given a temporary reprieve. 'It used to be this idea of, 'Oh yeah, that's in the red states, but I'm safe in California' — it doesn't feel that way anymore,' Kane said. Staff at the Trevor Project scrambling to figure out how to save the jobs of about 200 counselors who are paid through the federal contract, including raising private funds to make up for the unexpected shortfall, said Mark Henson, interim vice president of advocacy and government affairs. The news couldn't come at a worse time, given that calls nationwide are on pace to top 700,000 in 2025. That's up from 600,000 in 2024, a spokesperson said, citing metrics from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Another 100 crisis counselors are employed and paid separately by the Trevor Project itself. They will continue taking calls through the project's own 24/7, free crisis line, one of several options that local LGBTQ+ organizations offer. Los Angeles County's Alternative Crisis Response has a 24/7 helpline at (800) 854-7771 that also provides culturally sensitive support services. But Alex Boyd, the Trevor Project's director of crisis intervention, said he isn't sure how his organization can make up for the loss of the nationwide visibility and federal support that the 988 partnership affords them. LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers, according to the Trevor Project. Its 2024 survey found that in California, 35% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered taking their own lives and that 11% of respondents had attempted suicide in the previous year. In defending the decision to stop working with the Trevor Project at a House budget hearing in May, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that while Trump supports the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in general, 'We don't want to isolate different demographics and polarize our country.' The big question, Boyd said, is will young LGBTQ+ Americans who already feel shunned or misunderstood still trust a suicide prevention line that no longer offers counselors they can easily relate to? A one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work when it comes to people in emotional and mental distress, Boyd said. He fears the worst. 'The fact that such a significant amount of our capacity for impact has now been stripped away — there is no operational way in order to navigate through a moment like this that doesn't result, in at least the short term, in a loss of life.' Counselors at the Trevor Project hear the anguish over the anti-LGBTQ+ backlash in the voices of young callers seeking help through the lifeline, Boyd said. 'The statements we are hearing are: 'Our government doesn't support me. The government is actively erasing my experience from the national conversation.' ' 'Increasingly, the biggest thread that we see from young people reaching out to us is this idea that it is already difficult to be a young person in the world — this is another layer that we're adding onto children's lives,' Boyd said. 'They're coming to us saying they're not sure how they're going to be able to navigate through more years of this before they get some level of autonomy and agency and find some sense of safety.' Along with a host of executive actions signed by the president, thousands of bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community have been introduced in state legislatures, in cities and in school districts in California and around the country, including calls to ban books that mention same-sex relationships and gender identity, remove the Pride flag from government buildings and kick trans athletes off of sports teams. Adding to the strain on the queer community, Trump's self-described 'Big Beautiful Bill,' recently passed in both houses in Congress, cuts public health funding for low-income Americans who receive Medicaid. LGBTQ+ Americans are twice as likely to rely on Medicaid to receive their health care than other Americans, said Alexandra Curd, a staff policy attorney at the national advocacy group Lambda Legal. Over 40% of nonelderly U.S. adults living with HIV depend on the federal program for their healthcare needs compared to 15% for the general population, according to KFF. Many recipients rely nonprofit organizations funded by federal grants to get HIV and STI screenings and receive HIV prevention medications such as PREP and PEP, Curd said. Because of the Medicaid cuts and the prospect of increased difficulty in accessing preventive care and emotional support, 'We're going to possibly be seeing rising infections rates for HIV,' she said. Curd said a recent spike in HIV rates among Latino men could only worsen. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials have cited a lack of adequate funding, racial bias, language barriers and mistrust of the medical system among the reasons that gay and bisexual Latino men account for a disproportionate percentage of new HIV cases. Lambda Legal's help desk has already received more requests for assistance with health care, employment and housing discrimination in the first half of 2025 than in all of 2024, with the most pressing need coming from trans and nonbinary callers. One piece of good news for L.A. came recently when Rep. Laura Friedman (D–West Hollywood) announced that the Trump administration had restored more than $19 million in federal grants for HIV and STI prevention and tracking that were earmarked for the L.A. County Department of Public Health but slashed by the CDC. Friedman said she and others spoke out against the cut were able to secure an extra $338,019 in federal funding for the new fiscal year starting June 1. But it's hard for healthcare organizations to celebrate given that vital funds for mental health and HIV programs were targeted in the first place. Manny Zermeño, a behavioral health specialist at the Long Beach office of another queer community service organization, APLA Health, senses the distress in his clients. 'There is fear, sadness and also with those feelings, it's natural to have some anger and confusion,' Zermeño said. The L.A.-based nonprofit focuses on providing free and affordable dental, medical, counseling and other services for queer people 18 and over. It was founded in 1982 as AIDS Project Los Angeles. Back then, a small team of volunteers worked a telephone hotline in the closet of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbians Community Service Center, fielding calls from panicked residents seeking answers about what was then a fatal disease for which there was no treatment. The organization operated the first dental clinic in the U.S. catering to AIDS patients out of a trailer in West Hollywood. After movie star Rock Hudson announced he had AIDS in 1985, the organization galvanized support among Angelenos by hosting the first-ever AIDS Walk fundraiser at Paramount Studios, according to its website. Kane and leaders of other community organizations in L.A. said they would rally once again, this time to assist the Trevor Project. 'All of us who have boots on the ground — you'll literally have to drag us out by our ankles in order to not provide care to our community,' Kane said. 'I don't believe that queer kids will not have access to resources, because we won't allow it.'
Miami Herald
01-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Tinder rolls out mandatory face verification for California users
West Hollywood-based Tinder is now requiring facial recognition scans for all users in California as part of its efforts to build trust among users and reduce the prevalence of scams and fraud that plague dating apps. The feature, called Face Check, prompts users to take a short video selfie that is used to verify their identity. The verification data allows Tinder, owned by Match Group, to check whether a person's face matches their uploaded photos. The scan is also used to check other photos on the app to detect if a user is impersonating someone else or operating duplicate accounts. The technology is from a company called FaceTec. Users' verification data will be stored for the lifetime of their Tinder account and deleted within 30 days of account closure. "As part of our continued efforts, we are always testing ways to deliver the best experience for our users to seek authentic connections," a Tinder spokesperson said. While Tinder already offers photo and ID verification features, they are optional. Face Check will be mandatory in some places in hopes of stopping bad actors and bots who rarely opt into voluntary verification measures. The new function is "about confirming that this person is a real, live person and not a bot or a spoofed account," said Yoel Roth, Match Group's vice president of trust and safety. Tinder has been adding safety features to help users feel more comfortable on the app, including "Are You Sure?" and "Does This Bother You?" prompts that pop up to police potentially unwelcome interactions, as well as newer additions like Share My Date. The timing of this pilot program comes as romance scams become more prevalent across the United States. Romance scammers typically create fake profiles on dating platforms or contact victims through social media platforms. They build relationships over time through frequent communication before fabricating emergencies and requesting money from their targets. With over 60 million Americans using online dating services in 2023, the stakes are significant. The Federal Trade Commission reported that romance scams cost victims more than $1.1 billion, highlighting the scale of the problem. Congressional action is also underway to address these concerns. The House of Representatives unanimously passed the Romance Scam Prevention Act on June 23, which would require dating apps to notify users when they have interacted with someone removed from the platform for fraudulent activity. Face Check is already being used in Canada and Colombia. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Los Angeles Times
01-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Tinder rolls out mandatory face verification for California users
West Hollywood-based Tinder is now requiring facial recognition scans for all users in California as part of its efforts to build trust among users and reduce the prevalence of scams and fraud that plague dating apps. The feature, called Face Check, prompts users to take a short video selfie that is used to verify their identity. The verification data allows Tinder, owned by Match Group, to check whether a person's face matches their uploaded photos. The scan is also used to check other photos on the app to detect if a user is impersonating someone else or operating duplicate accounts. The technology is from a company called FaceTec. Users' verification data will be stored for the lifetime of their Tinder account and deleted within 30 days of account closure. 'As part of our continued efforts, we are always testing ways to deliver the best experience for our users to seek authentic connections,' a Tinder spokesperson said. While Tinder already offers photo and ID verification features, they are optional. Face Check will be mandatory in some places in hopes of stopping bad actors and bots who rarely opt into voluntary verification measures. The new function is 'about confirming that this person is a real, live person and not a bot or a spoofed account,' said Yoel Roth, Match Group's vice president of trust and safety. Tinder has been adding safety features to help users feel more comfortable on the app, including 'Are You Sure?' and 'Does This Bother You?' prompts that pop up to police potentially unwelcome interactions, as well as newer additions like Share My Date. The timing of this pilot program comes as romance scams become more prevalent across the United States. Romance scammers typically create fake profiles on dating platforms or contact victims through social media platforms. They build relationships over time through frequent communication before fabricating emergencies and requesting money from their targets. With over 60 million Americans using online dating services in 2023, the stakes are significant. The Federal Trade Commission reported that romance scams cost victims more than $1.1 billion, highlighting the scale of the problem. Congressional action is also underway to address these concerns. The House of Representatives unanimously passed the Romance Scam Prevention Act on June 23, which would require dating apps to notify users when they have interacted with someone removed from the platform for fraudulent activity. Face Check is already being used in Canada and Colombia.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Yahoo
Family of slain Gulfport teen sues Grindr
A family member of a Gulfport teen who police say was tortured, killed and dismembered by a man she met on Grindr is suing the owner of the platform, alleging that its features and lack of safeguards for minors contributed to the girl's death. The lawsuit, filed last month in federal court against Grindr LLC by a representative of Miranda Corsette's estate, alleges that the 35-year-old man who killed the teen was able to target her through Grindr's app due to its 'lax age verification and hyper-precise geolocation.' 'The trauma inflicted upon M.C. (Miranda) and the irreparable harm to her family are direct consequences of Grindr's reckless disregard for the safety of minor children who are routinely preyed upon by adult predators who use Grindr's platform and design as a trap,' the suit states. The plaintiff is identified in court filings by the initials D.W. and listed as an executor of Miranda's estate. Lorne Kaiser, a South Florida attorney for the plaintiff, declined in an interview to identify the plaintiff or the plaintiff's relationship to Miranda because he didn't have permission from his client to do so. Grindr LLC has not yet filed a response to the suit. The West Hollywood-based company's press office did not respond to two emails from the Tampa Bay Times seeking comment for this story. Launched in 2009, Grindr markets itself as the world's largest social networking apps for LGBTQ+ people, but it attracts a 'sexually diverse' userbase that include people looking to prey on minors, according to the lawsuit. The complaint includes many of the details that have come to light about the investigation that led to the arrest of Steven Gress, 35, and Michelle Brandes, 37, on first-degree murder and other charges. Authorities say that Miranda met Gress on Grindr on or about Feb. 14. Gress went to pick up the teen at or near the Gulfport home where she lived with her grandmother and brought her back to the apartment he shared with Brandes on 27th Avenue North in St. Petersburg. Gress told detectives that he was told she was 21 but later learned she was 16, according to an arrest affidavit. Gress took Miranda back to Gulfport and at some point she returned to the St. Petersburg apartment. Gress said he became convinced Miranda had stolen his ring and, for the better part of a week, 'lumped her up,' the affidavit states. It ended Feb. 23. A witness said Brandes wrapped the girl's head in plastic. Gress told her not to cover her nose, but Brandes did, the witness said. Miranda suffocated. Gress described Brandes shoving a billiard ball into Miranda's throat and covering her face in plastic wrap. He said he couldn't get to her quickly enough to poke holes in the plastic so she could breathe, according to the affidavit. After Miranda died, they drove to Brandes' mother's house in Largo, where Gress used a chainsaw to dismember Miranda's body, according to police. They put the remains in trash bags and the next day left them in a dumpster in Ruskin. Police learned the contents of the dumpster likely went to the county's incinerator. Police said there is no evidence Miranda took the ring, and Brandes later claimed to have found it in Gress's car. Gress and Brandes have pleaded not guilty to murder and kidnapping charges. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty if they are convicted. 'Long before February 14, 2025, it was clear to Grindr that it was only a matter of time before its app, as Grindr marketed it and designed it, would cause the torture, rape, and murder of a child,' the lawsuit states. The complaint says that the app requires only a self-reported birthdate to confirm users are at least 18, with no cross-checking against official documentation or third-party verification at sign-up. Miranda's death 'exposes the platform's gross negligence in relying on a farcical self-reported age verification system,' the suit states. 'This performative gesture, as absurd as a bar or strip club asking teenagers to state their age without checking ID, allowed a minor to access an adult-oriented platform with foreseeable catastrophic consequences.' The company could institute measures such as government-issued identification verification or facial age estimation system but has not done so, according to the complaint. 'The company had the means to keep minors off its platform, but it withheld them to preserve easy onboarding and avoid disrupting user growth, even when the cost is the safety of children,' the suit states. The app's geolocation services 'deliver hyper-precise, real-time geolocation tracking — accurate to within a few feet — designed to facilitate immediate sexual encounters,' the suit states. 'As such, Grindr arranges user profiles based on their distance from other users for instant and spontaneous sexual hookups creating a uniquely hazardous environment for minors.' The lawsuit, which notes that Miranda had a son, alleges nine counts including wrongful death, negligence, infliction of emotional distress, participating in a sex trafficking venture and deceptive and unfair trade practices. It seeks a jury trial and compensatory and punitive damages. The complaint also asks the court to order Grindr to implement more robust age verification measures and to cease what the lawsuit alleges are misleading claims about the app's safety. Kaiser said the lawsuit is meant to hold Grindr accountable for its role in Miranda's death just as prosecutors are holding Gress and Brandes accountable through the criminal justice process. 'Without Grindr, we believe that Miranda would have never met this Steven Gress character, and she'd still be alive,' Kaiser said. 'This was a completely foreseeable event. Grinder has been warned for years and years about children and minors getting on this platform, and it's obviously a dangerous platform for children.'
