Youth's Lives Every Day
The ‘Learn with Love’ episode created by The Trevor Project demonstrates the power of supportive parents
September 3, 2025 – Today, The Trevor Project launched a new short film, Learn with Love: Haylin and Mat. This short film is the latest episode of the Learn with Love series, a collection of real stories of LGBTQ+ young people and their families, meant to raise public awareness, understanding, and, ultimately, help end suicide among LGBTQ+ youth.
The new short film tells the story of a mother and son living in Honolulu, Hawaii: Haylin, a marriage and family therapist, and Mat, her 17-year-old son who is transgender. Raised in a conservative, religious household, Haylin shares her journey toward accepting, understanding, and supporting her transgender child – including opening her own nonprofit, mental health clinic, Spill the Tea Cafe, to connect young people of all identities with welcoming, supportive mental health services in an underserved community.
“Every young person deserves to grow up in a community that supports and accepts them. Yet, for LGBTQ+ young people, and transgender youth in particular, this is too often not their experience,” said Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project. “As we continue to witness widespread misinformation and stereotypes about transgender young people in the U.S., we must pay better attention to real stories from real transgender youth. I am beyond grateful to Haylin and Mat for sharing their powerful story – and showing audiences everywhere that even if a parent doesn’t understand everything about their child, they can still love and support them unconditionally. When LGBTQ+ youth, like Mat, have supportive parents, their odds of suicide risk lower significantly. And their ability to thrive? That skyrockets.”
This new short film is part of a three-year public awareness campaign – an ongoing, targeted multimedia effort that aims to spread awareness of the issue of suicide among LGBTQ+ young people, connect youth in crisis with the care they need, and equip audiences with tools and trainings to address the public health crisis.
LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers. The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ young people (ages 13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S., and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds. Data show that LGBTQ+ young people living in rural areas reported significantly higher rates of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts – and lower rates of access to mental health care – compared to their peers who live in non-rural areas.
Thirty-two percent of LGBTQ+ youth in Hawaii seriously considered suicide in the past year. More than half (57%) of LGBTQ+ young people in the state said they wanted mental health care in the past year, but were not able to receive it. Only 26% of LGBTQ+ young people in Hawaii reported that their home was an affirming environment, and for transgender and nonbinary young people in particular, that figure dropped to 17%.
If you or someone you know needs help or support, The Trevor Project’s trained crisis counselors are available 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386, via chat at TheTrevorProject.org/Get-Help, or by texting START to 678678.
