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Bridget McCarthy believes that if his son Riley Chart has quick and easy access to a suicide prevention hotline designed for queer youth, he might be alive today.
Chart is a trans teen who endured bullying because he was different and took his life at his family home during Covid-19 lockdown in September 2020 – two weeks after his 16th birthday.
“I really believe there was something unique to LGBTQ. [help] Number in front of him, he would have tried it,” McCarthy said.
Riley charts with his mother Bridget McCarthy.
(Pole Chart)
State lawmakers are scheduled to vote in August on a bill that says McCarthy and his sponsors can save the lives of other young queer Californians.
California Legislative Bill 727 requires ID cards for public school students in grades 7 to 12, and students from public institutions in higher education list the free LGBTQ+ crisis line run by the Trevor project from July 2026.
The Trevor project, a West Hollywood-based nonprofit organization, united when the federal government eliminated LGBTQ+ counseling funding through the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (9-8-8). Lifeline was expected to halt crisis calls to the Trevor project and six other LGBTQ+ contractors on Thursday. It is one of several actions in the Second Trump administration that critics fear years of progress in securing health services for queer Americans.
“When the Trump administration threatened, when they got over their threat to cut the program completely, it said we had to step up to the plate,” said Los Angeles Democrat Mark Gonzalez. “Our goal here is to be a safety net, especially for those who are not in Los Angeles but in other parts of the state that this hotline needs to survive.”
California Lt. Colonel Eleni Kunarakis, the LA LGBT Center and the Sacramento LGBT Center are all signed on as co-sponsors of the bill. Gov. Gavin Newsom told Politico that the Trump administration’s 9-8-8 decision was “unprotective” and that he also supports the bill. According to his office, the state’s $4.7 billion masterplan on children’s mental health includes partnerships with organizations such as the Trevor Project.
Gonzalez said the bill initially included private schools, but in response to conservative opposition, the mandate was amended, so it would be limited to public schools.
Federal funding for LGBTQ+ crisis counselors running through the 9-8-8 lifeline on Thursday led local nonprofits and elected officials to pledge to fill the void. LA County supervisors Janice Hahn and Lindsey P. Horvath wrote a move to investigate the impact of the cut and see if it helps the county continue its services. The board unanimously approved it on Tuesday.
“The federal government may have turned its back on LGBTQ+ people, but in LA County we will do everything in our power to keep this community safe,” Hearn said in a statement after the vote.
Approximately 40% of young queer people in the United States take suicide seriously compared to 13% of their colleagues. The Trevor Project and other organizations have reported an increase in the number of people, both in California and across the country, calling the boundaries of the crisis to seek mental health support.
Trans Americans have been particularly shaken by backlash against LGBTQ+ people and the prospects of new restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare, according to new findings released this week by researchers at the University of Vermont.
Their survey of 489 gender diver adults after the 2024 election, published on the JAMA Open Network on Wednesday, found that almost a third of those interviewed would consider dangerous DIY hormone therapy if treatment disappears elsewhere. One-fifth of respondents reported having suicidal ideation.
Riley Chart with his father Paul Chart.
(Bridget McCarthy)
As a mother of a trans child who died of suicide, McCarthy said she wanted to use the lessons she learned to educate and advocate for other trans young people and their families in similar circumstances.
McCarthy, who lives in Culver City, launched a memorial fund with the Trevor Project, organized a suicide prevention walk in West LA, handed out crisis information and took part in the Pride Festival.
She remembers Riley as the artistic and warm son who joined an LGBTQ+ group and networked his friends while attending both Santa Monica and Culver City high schools.
Riley had a therapist to support her life as a transteen, but during the pandemic he found it difficult to deal with the inability to spend time with friends in person. The confinement made him even more irritated. He was up late than usual and spent too much time on the phone, McCarthy said.
After Riley’s death, the family discovered he would text a gay friend for help.
“The only other number on his cell phone was the 10-digit Veterans hotline number. He didn’t call,” McCarthy said. “So we need a lifeline that speaks to different populations. Veterans’ hotlines won’t be of any use to 16-year-olds struggling with their identity.”
When Riley was 12, McCarthy wanted to take him to the Pride Parade in West Hollywood and experience the sense of nature that he seemed to dream of. He loved it.
Riley Chart will be participating in West Hollywood Pride in 2017.
(Bridget McCarthy)
“Rai said he found his people,” McCarthy recalls using his family’s nickname for him. “He was like, ‘This is it – I’m home, mom.’ ”
When Riley’s mother took him with pride for the second time the following year, he bought the Transpride flag, which became one of his precious possessions. “When he went, he left us, he was wrapped in it,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy spoke on the phone from one of Riley’s favorite places, Lami Island in Washington, and Lumi Island near the US-Canadian border. The family places Riley’s body on the island, and McCarthy visits the cemetery four times a year to care for maple trees planted in his memory, respecting the painted stones his friends have placed around them, and speaks to their son.
McCarthy said she and Riley visited family friends on the island almost every year when he was younger. The island served as the shelter where McCarthy saw his son the most at ease, especially when middle schoolers faced bullying from classmates and the problems of using the toilet. He was far from the pressure of being a child in LA and loved climbing trees, swimming and grazing cows.
“Open the car door and it was like opening the barn gate,” recalls McCarthy. “Like a colt across the fields, he was just running. It gave us some opportunity for peace.”
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