Leelah Alcorn, a seventeen year old transgender girl, commited suicide on December 28th, 2014. —Nick Lovett
The public has heard Leelah’s cry loud and clear, and a push to change the crippling realities that transgender people face on a daily basis. In the note, Leelah describes the conversion therapy that she had to endure at the hands of her parents, which attempts to change or erase one’s sexuality or gender through therapy. A petition has been brought up to The White House website, which of now has almost surpassed its goal to ban all LGBTQ+ conversion therapy. A petition has also been initiated on change.org, pleading with the president to enact Leelah’s law in order to ban conversion therapy.
Leelah’s Tumblr has recently been taken down at the request of her parents, but many of her posts have been immortalized by other Tumblr users, including her suicide note.
I found out about Leelah Alcorn and her death through Tumblr. I don’t know what it feels like to be a suicidal transgender girl, but I have also been in the position of wanting to take my life. As I read her suicide note over and over and sifted through her blog, I wondered if I could have said any words to make her stay. How could things get better considering all the obstacles in her life and the many more to come? I know what it’s like, to be caught inbetween your past and your future, and saying, This is enough now: I’m done. If Leelah just had the opportunity to be who she was and live freely, maybe we would not have lost another sister.
This is why denying transgender people the right to be who they truly are is murder.
News of her death was all over my dashboard beyond New Years’, and it seemed like the world was on fire. And, to be honest, it should be.
Transgender people are the most at-risk out of the LGBTQ+ community. According to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and National Center for Transgender Equality,suicide attempts among the transgender respondents were a staggering 41%, higher than the 10-20% of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults who report ever attempting suicide. In July of 2013, murders of transgender people were fifty-percent higher than gays or lesbians. As the National Center for Transgender Equality states, “One in five transgender people in the U.S. have been refused a home or apartment, and more than one in ten have been evicted because of their gender identity.”
So it’s safe to say that there is an immense discrimination and violence towards transgender people that is ultimately crippling and serves to diminish their means of survival in this world.
Besides sending Leelah to a conversion therapist, Leelah was pulled out of school by her parents and cut off from her friends for five months after coming out as gay.
In addition to the abuse the Leelah had to withstand because of her parents in life, she was also disrespected in death. Shortly after Leelah’s suicide, Carla Wood Alcorn, Leelah’s mother, posted a facebook post.
Here we see Leelah’s mother misgendering her even in death, and made it seem like Leelah’s death was not a suicide.
Some people argue that Leelah’s parents were murders.
Many people on Tumblr have been drawing Leelah in order to honor her, including the one drawn by Andrew above.
Leelah was an amazing artist herself, taken and saved from her former tumblr by fellow tumblr users.
Leelah’s Tumblr has recently been taken down at the request of her parents, but many of her posts have been immortalized by other Tumblr users, including her suicide note.
I found out about Leelah Alcorn and her death through Tumblr. I don’t know what it feels like to be a suicidal transgender girl, but I have also been in the position of wanting to take my life. As I read her suicide note over and over and sifted through her blog, I wondered if I could have said any words to make her stay. How could things get better considering all the obstacles in her life and the many more to come? I know what it’s like, to be caught inbetween your past and your future, and saying, This is enough now: I’m done. If Leelah just had the opportunity to be who she was and live freely, maybe we would not have lost another sister.
This is why denying transgender people the right to be who they truly are is murder.
News of her death was all over my dashboard beyond New Years’, and it seemed like the world was on fire. And, to be honest, it should be.
Transgender people are the most at-risk out of the LGBTQ+ community. According to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and National Center for Transgender Equality,suicide attempts among the transgender respondents were a staggering 41%, higher than the 10-20% of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults who report ever attempting suicide. In July of 2013, murders of transgender people were fifty-percent higher than gays or lesbians. As the National Center for Transgender Equality states, “One in five transgender people in the U.S. have been refused a home or apartment, and more than one in ten have been evicted because of their gender identity.”
So it’s safe to say that there is an immense discrimination and violence towards transgender people that is ultimately crippling and serves to diminish their means of survival in this world.
Besides sending Leelah to a conversion therapist, Leelah was pulled out of school by her parents and cut off from her friends for five months after coming out as gay.
In addition to the abuse the Leelah had to withstand because of her parents in life, she was also disrespected in death. Shortly after Leelah’s suicide, Carla Wood Alcorn, Leelah’s mother, posted a facebook post.
Here we see Leelah’s mother misgendering her even in death, and made it seem like Leelah’s death was not a suicide.
Some people argue that Leelah’s parents were murders.
Many people on Tumblr have been drawing Leelah in order to honor her, including the one drawn by Andrew above.
Leelah was an amazing artist herself, taken and saved from her former tumblr by fellow tumblr users.
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Leelah’s full suicide note can be read here.
Another typed version can be viewed here.
Don’t forget about this. Don’t forget about the crisis that the world is in right now: transgender people and not safe, and that needs to change. Don’t leave this in 2014. Take it with you. If we never let Leelah’s death and other deaths like hers to die, change will come.
If you or someone you know are struggling with suicidal thoughts or depression there are resources for you:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (USA): 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
Transgender Lifeline (USA): +187 756 588 60
If you feel hesitant about calling one of these lines, please know that I’ve called a suicide hotline before, and it was really helpful.
Rest in Power, Leelah.
Don’t forget about this. Don’t forget about the crisis that the world is in right now: transgender people and not safe, and that needs to change. Don’t leave this in 2014. Take it with you. If we never let Leelah’s death and other deaths like hers to die, change will come.
If you or someone you know are struggling with suicidal thoughts or depression there are resources for you:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (USA): 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
Transgender Lifeline (USA): +187 756 588 60
If you feel hesitant about calling one of these lines, please know that I’ve called a suicide hotline before, and it was really helpful.
Rest in Power, Leelah.
