One summer day in 2018, Kevin <\/span>Wong sat at his desk, tears pricking his eyes. He was reading a story from a Colorado newspaper about a young boy\u2019s death by suicide. The boy, who had recently come out to his mother, had been bullied at school; he was 9 years old.<\/p>\n Wong \u201909 was the new vice president of communications at The Trevor Project, a national crisis intervention and suicide prevention organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning young people.\u00a0Seeing Wong\u2019s distress, his boss offered him a challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018So what are you going to do about it?\u2019\u201d Wong says. \u201cThat was the moment it clicked: \u2018Oh, I can do something.\u2019 I can\u2019t bring this person back, but I can make sure everybody who reads about this knows about The Trevor Project.\u201d<\/p>\n Wong picked up his phone and got to work. By the end of the day, he\u2019d secured media coverage of the story on nightly news broadcasts and in newspapers across the country. Each piece spotlighted The Trevor Project\u2019s around-the-clock hotline.<\/p>\n \u201cSuicide is preventable,\u201d Wong says. \u201cThis is why we do the work.\u201d<\/p>\n In just four years, Wong has expanded The Trevor Project\u2019s communications from a one-person operation into a team of nine whose messaging drives awareness about the organization\u2019s research, advocacy, and comprehensive crisis services. His strategy is intentionally wide ranging; on any given day, Wong might be pitching profiles of Trevor Project CEO and Executive Director Amit Paley to prominent publications, enlisting celebrities to highlight the organization\u2019s outreach, or fielding questions himself about its mission to end suicide among LGBTQ youth.<\/p>\n By increasing The Trevor Project\u2019s name recognition across an array of audiences \u2014 whether through opinion editorials that make the case for affirming school environments or a Teen Vogue<\/em> feature about its Suicide Prevention Advocate of the Year, rapper Lil Nas X \u2014 Wong hopes to embed the organization in the minds of those who need it the most.<\/p>\n \u201cRaising brand awareness and recall is really important,\u201d he says. \u201cWe want to build trust and rapport with young people so if they are in a moment of crisis, they say, \u2018I\u2019m going to call The Trevor Project. I trust them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, death by suicide is the second leading cause of death among 10- to 24-year-olds. The risks increase significantly for LGBTQ youth, who are four times as likely as their peers to attempt suicide. The Trevor Project\u2019s 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that 42% of LGBTQ youth aged 13\u201324 seriously considered suicide the previous year, including more than half of those who identify as transgender and nonbinary.<\/p>\n Wong emphasizes that LGBTQ identity itself doesn\u2019t lead to higher rates of suicide or negative mental health outcomes; instead, the problem is society\u2019s often hostile reaction to it. LGBTQ youth may experience rejection from family members, bullying from classmates, violence, and discrimination.<\/p>\n In 2021, The Trevor Project\u2019s crisis counselors served 220,000 people who reached out in text messages, online chats, and calls to the hotline. But the organization\u2019s research estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youths in the United States seriously consider suicide each year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a heartbreaking statistic,\u201d Wong says.<\/p>\n The Trevor Project is currently tracking nearly 200 anti-LGBTQ legislative efforts across the country, including measures to ban transgender athletes from school sports and a recently passed bill in Florida barring primary schools from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/p>\n The fight to implement these policies further harms LGBTQ young people, Wong says, by sending \u201cthe message that they shouldn\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n Wong is fueled by a sense of <\/span>urgency, and his own understanding of how easy it is to feel alone. Like many LGBTQ individuals, he had his own suicidal thoughts when he was a teen.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember holding a pair of scissors up to my wrist once,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t attempt suicide, but the thought was there, the questioning was there. \u2018Do I deserve to be here?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Growing up in Howell, New Jersey, Wong realized he was gay during middle school. His family was close, and Wong never doubted that he was loved. But he\u2019d heard enough homophobic comments to make him question whether there was something wrong with him.<\/p>\n His father, a foreman at a newspaper distribution facility, once told a story about a colleague who had shaved his chest; co-workers laughingly used a slur to describe him, which Wong\u2019s father repeated.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re a kid, you internalize that kind of stuff,\u201d Wong says. \u201cYou realize there is something different about you and you analyze, \u2018Is this good or bad? Something is not good about what I\u2019m feeling and something is not right with who I am.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Wong found support and affirmation in AOL chatrooms and by studying the few gay peers who were out at his high school. \u201cThey seemed to live full lives,\u201d he says. \u201cThey were not only surviving but thriving at school. Why couldn\u2019t that be me?\u201d<\/p>\n He came out to his sister when he was 16. At the time, she was studying abroad in Australia, but Wong couldn\u2019t wait for her return; he suddenly needed to tell someone. One afternoon when the house was quiet, he went to the downstairs den, closed the door, and dialed her number.<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt like a weight had been lifted,\u201d he says. \u201cHow do you bottle that moment and describe it? It\u2019s almost impossible. So much had been building up, then you finally say the words and let it out.\u201d<\/p>\n Though his sister was supportive, Wong wasn\u2019t ready to tell his parents. But, at the end of his first week at The College of New Jersey \u2014 where he was happily out from the start \u2014 his father called him. While cleaning Wong\u2019s bedroom, he had found a backpack containing Gay Times<\/em>, a general interest magazine for the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n \u201cHe asked me if I was normal or abnormal,\u201d Wong said. \u201cWords really matter to me and when he said that, it was a deep cut.\u201d<\/p>\n Wong pushed back, telling his father, \u201cI know what you\u2019re trying to say, but those are not the words to use. \u2018Am I gay? Yes, I am gay.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Both his parents emphasized that they loved him, but it would take each a while to fully accept Wong\u2019s news. In the meantime, he embraced life at TCNJ, exploring his new sense of self in classes like Nelson Rodriguez\u2019s Men and Masculinities: Literary Perspectives and meetings at PRISM, TCNJ\u2019s oldest LGBTQ alliance.<\/p>\n Originally known as the Gay Union of Trenton State, PRISM was founded in 1976 to provide a social space for gay students and to debunk negative stereotypes. The organization still mixes cultural outreach with education, hosting campus events such as Gay Bingo and Queer Ball alongside the \u201cComing Out Monologues,\u201d a storytelling celebration in which students share their personal experiences.<\/p>\n\n\t\t