Tragic suicide of transgender teenager: Parents who refused to accept her identity break silence

Just days ago, teenager Leelah Alcorn took her own life because she could no longer cope with living as a transgender woman.

LEELAH

by Closer staff |
Published on

Leelah, who was born a boy called Josh, left a suicide note claiming her parents, Carla and Doug, punished her for changing her identity.

Writing about the time she told her parents how she felt, Leelah, 17, wrote: “They took me out of public school, took away my laptop and phone, and forbid me of getting on any sort of social media, completely isolating me from my friends.

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“This was probably the part of my life when I was the most depressed, and I'm surprised I didn't kill myself.”

Heartbreakingly, Leelah, from Ohio, also wrote how after years of turmoil she felt “The life I would've lived isn't worth living in.”

On Wednesday, Carla and Doug – who’re devout Christians and say that being transgender is not a Christian act – finally broke their silence after they were accused of cruelty.

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“We don't support that, religiously,” Carla told CNN.

“But we told him that we loved him unconditionally. We loved him no matter what. I loved my son. People need to know that I loved him. He was a good kid, a good boy.”

Leelah’s last wish was for action to be taken to help other young people in the same position she was.

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She added: “I want 100% of the things that I legally own to be sold and the money (plus my money in the bank) to be given to trans civil rights movements and support groups, I don't give a s**t which one,' she wrote.

“The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren't treated the way I was, they're treated like humans, with valid feelings and human rights. Gender needs to be taught about in schools, the earlier the better. My death needs to mean something.'

“My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year.'

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After her tragic death a petition – called Leelah's Alcorn Law – was started on Change.org which “call[s] upon the President of the United State- Barack Obama, and the Leadership of the House and Senate to immediately seek a pathway for banning the practice known as 'transgender conversion therapy,” has gained over 200,000 signatures.

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