The Trevor Project came under attack on Tuesday, targeted by a group of individuals associated with the anonymous imageboard 4chan, who sought to overwhelm the LGBTQ nonprofit’s online chat feature with traffic to deter individuals seeking counseling from receiving assistance.
In a slur-riddled thread titled “Operation Gomorrah,” the poster organizing the attack stated “war is declared on the sodomite groomers of Trevor Project,” accusing the organization, which provides anonymous counseling to LGBTQ youth in crisis, of being “noted groomers” who “normalize” homosexuality. The primary aim of the attack, according to the organizer, involved wasting the Trevor Project’s resources in hopes that individuals in legitimate need of counseling would ultimately harm themselves. Reports of long wait times to speak with a counselor via chat were met with glee by the thread’s participants.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, the Trevor Project said this was not an isolated occurrence. “As our organization continues to gain visibility and reach more LGBTQ youth in crisis, we have also seen increased attacks from antagonistic individuals and groups seeking to mischaracterize and undermine our work,” they wrote. “We are working diligently in the face of this disruption to protect our counselors and those youth who need us.”
The Trevor Project, which was founded in 1998, provides confidential counseling and suicide crisis support via phone, text, and online chat to LGBTQ youth struggling with issues relating to their sexual or gender identities. The organization also conducts research on the behaviors and experiences of those in the community, and provides resources to parents and schools interested in helping foster a “safer, more-inclusive world.”
According to research conducted by the Trevor Project, at least one LGBTQ individual in the U.S. between the ages of 13 to 24 attempts suicide every 45 seconds. “LGBTQ youth are at significantly increased risk for suicide — not because of anything inherent about their identities, but because of the stigma, bullying, violence, and discrimination that they face,” the organization said on Tuesday. “The incident of users on 4chan who maliciously planned to overtake our crisis lines today is exactly the kind of mistreatment and abuse that contributes to heightened suicide risk.”
A spokesperson for the Trevor Project could not provide Rolling Stone specifics on whether wait times to speak to a crisis counselor significantly increased during the raid, but noted that the organization regularly shares information on its website when delays occur — which they did yesterday.
Tuesday’s coordinated attack comes amid an onslaught of transphobic discourse on social media, and marks the second time online factions targeted the Trevor Project and its mission this year. In April, several high-profile conservative social media accounts latched onto a webcomic shared by the organization in November 2021 intended to educate LGBTQ youth about a built-in safety feature on the Trevor Project website that allows users to quickly close the browser window and erase browsing history.
Libs of TikTok, the unabashedly hate-driven social media profile beloved by terminally online conservatives, called the Trevor Project a “grooming organization” in a now-deleted tweet sharing the comic, while the openly homophobic and transphobic group Moms for Liberty asked, “Why is the @TrevorProject encouraging children to keep secrets from their parents?”
Yahoo! News also reported in May that right-wing conspiracy theorist James Lindsay — who has since been banned from Twitter — published a baseless screed on the organization. “Only a matter of time until solid evidence of serious wrongdoing emerges regarding the Trevor Project,” Lindsay reportedly tweeted. “They don’t mobilize to protect anything unless there’s something really bad going on there that they don’t want anyone to find out. Mark my words.” Yahoo! noted that Lindsay later added a follow-up: “Groomer Project posing as suicide prevention.”
The original post calling for the attack against the Trevor Project has been removed from 4chan. As of late Wednesday morning, the notification stating, “Wait times to reach a counselor are higher than usual” was removed from the Trevor Project’s homepage.
“The act of attacking a crisis services line intended to prevent suicide among young people is egregious,” the Trevor Project told Rolling Stone. “Our crisis counselors work around the clock to be there for LGBTQ youth who feel like they have nowhere to turn, and it’s harrowing that anybody would attempt to compromise our lifeline or encourage suicide.”