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the fine gender line


In the last week of December, 2014, seventeen year old Leelah Alcorn committed suicide, having decided that she will never be able to be happy being herself, after having faced rejection and denial by her parents, Don and Carla Alcorn, after coming out to them as transgendered. Leelah was born as Josh, but at fourteen years of age, realised who she really was. Her Christian parents rejected her identity, punishing her, taking away her phone and her internet access, pulling her out of school, denying her access to her friends, and cutting of her support system, leaving her isolated, and alone among a family who did not accept her.

In the first week of January, 2015, her parents threatened legal action against Tumblr, where Leelah posted her sucide note which emphatically blamed her parents for her suicide. In response to that action, a copy of Leelah's suicide note appears below, followed by an open letter to Carla and Don Alcorn.


leelah alcorn Leelah Alcorn's Suicide Note:

If you are reading this, it means that I have committed suicide and obviously failed to delete this post from my queue.

Please don't be sad, it's for the better. The life I would've lived isn't worth living in… because I'm transgender. I could go into detail explaining why I feel that way, but this note is probably going to be lengthy enough as it is. To put it simply, I feel like a girl trapped in a boy's body, and I've felt that way ever since I was 4. I never knew there was a word for that feeling, nor was it possible for a boy to become a girl, so I never told anyone and I just continued to do traditionally 'boyish' things to try to fit in.

When I was 14, I learned what transgender meant and cried of happiness. After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was. I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn't make mistakes, that I am wrong. If you are reading this, parents, please don't tell this to your kids. Even if you are Christian or are against transgender people don't ever say that to someone, especially your kid. That won't do anything but make them hate them self. That's exactly what it did to me.

My mom started taking me to a therapist, but would only take me to christian therapists, (who were all very biased) so I never actually got the therapy I needed to cure me of my depression. I only got more Christians telling me that I was selfish and wrong and that I should look to God for help.

When I was 16 I realized that my parents would never come around, and that I would have to wait until I was 18 to start any sort of transitioning treatment, which absolutely broke my heart. The longer you wait, the harder it is to transition. I felt hopeless, that I was just going to look like a man in drag for the rest of my life. On my 16th birthday, when I didn't receive consent from my parents to start transitioning, I cried myself to sleep.

I formed a sort of a 'f*** you' attitude towards my parents and came out as gay at school, thinking that maybe if I eased into coming out as trans it would be less of a shock. Although the reaction from my friends was positive, my parents were pissed. They felt like I was attacking their image, and that I was an embarrassment to them. They wanted me to be their perfect little straight christian boy, and that's obviously not what I wanted.

So 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. This was probably the part of my life when I was the most depressed, and I'm surprised I didn't kill myself. I was completely alone for 5 months. No friends, no support, no love. Just my parent's disappointment and the cruelty of loneliness.

At the end of the school year, my parents finally came around and gave me my phone and let me back on social media. I was excited, I finally had my friends back. They were extremely excited to see me and talk to me, but only at first. Eventually they realized they didn't actually give a s**t about me, and I felt even lonelier than I did before. The only friends I thought I had only liked me because they saw me five times a week.

After a summer of having almost no friends plus the weight of having to think about college, save money for moving out, keep my grades up, go to church each week and feel like s**t because everyone there is against everything I live for, I have decided I've had enough. I'm never going to transition successfully, even when I move out. I'm never going to be happy with the way I look or sound. I'm never going to have enough friends to satisfy me. I'm never going to have enough love to satisfy me. I'm never going to find a man who loves me. I'm never going to be happy. Either I live the rest of my life as a lonely man who wishes he were a woman or I live my life as a lonelier woman who hates herself. There's no winning. There's no way out. I'm sad enough already, I don't need my life to get any worse. People say 'it gets better' but that isn't true in my case. It gets worse. Each day I get worse.

That's the gist of it, that's why I feel like killing myself. Sorry if that's not a good enough reason for you, it's good enough for me. As for my will, 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. 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. I want someone to look at that number and say 'that's f***ed up' and fix it. Fix society. Please.

Goodbye,

(Leelah) Josh Alcorn

 

leelah alcorn An open letter
to Don and Carla Alcorn:

Mr and Mrs. Alcorn:


When the media asked you about Leelah's death and sexual identify, you responded that "We loved Leelah unconditionally. We just didn't support that religiously." I think you may need to revisit the meaning of the word 'unconditionally'.

Leelah, or Josh, if you must, took a leap of faith when she came out to you. She shared with you who she really felt she was- a terrifying, and phenomenally brave thing to do. Many children aren't that brave, and feel forced to keep their gender identify a secret; a secret that eats them up, and destroys them from the inside out. Leelah trusted you. She trusted that you loved her unconditionally. She tusted that you would help her. But, instead of support and help, she was silenced. She was forced to keep it a secret anyway, and that ultimately destroyed her.

She came to you seeking love and acceptance; she was met with punishment and denial. You took away her phone. You pulled her out of school. You kept her from her friends, and took away what support she had. You turned your head away, and responded with ignorance, and tried to convince yourself it was a phase she was going through. You told yourself lies to make you feel better about the situation. You fell back on religious teachings, and trusted in them more than you trusted in the conviction of your child. You turned your child away, and turned to God. A God who's message was of love, compassion and understanding--- yet you showed your child none of those things when it came to her gender identity. You tried to force her to be someone she wasn't. You clipped her wings, and shoved her in a cage, worried what your friends, work colleagues and neighbors would say...

Leelah took another leap of faith last month. She lept in front of a tractor trailer, trusting that things would be better if she ended her life. She chose death over being forced to be your son, since you refused to accept her as your daughter. She chose to make her own freedom, and to find her own wings.

In her suicide note, Leelah asked, "my death needs to mean something." She managed to draw attention to the harsh and diificult life many transgendered people face. But, I have to say, I don't think it really meant something, because you are still in denial.

I am sorry for your loss. I truly am. You mourn a son, and still call her Josh... and that just goes to prove tat you haven't learned anything from your mistakes. This is your fault. She killed herself because of you. Because of the way you treated her. Because your religious principles were stronger than your love for your child. Because you denied her the support and acceptance that any parent should offer their child. I know you don't believe it; I know you think she was sick, and that she killed herself because of depression or a mental illness... You got her medicine and therapy. You continue to tell yourself lies to justify what you did to her. You had her Tumblr page deleted so you wouldn't have her words pointing a finger squarely at you. But, ultimately, she killed herself because you turned your back on letting her be who she really was. She didn't need to be changed. She didn't need to be 'fixed', she needed to be loved and supported. She needed to be loved for who she was. When she needed love and support, you have her silence and punishment, and that is something you will have to live with for the rest of your life. I wonder what your friends, work-colleagues and neighbors think of you now?

I can only hope that, in time, you come to learn what mistakes you made, and why the things you did and said were akin to beating and abusing her. Her bruises were emotional instead of physical, but they hurt her deeply. I hope that other parents everywhere see the way you acted and responded to Leelah, and learn from your mistakes. I hope that Leelah remains more than a statistic, and that her legacy of changing the way society sees transgendered people really does continue. But for now, I hope you suffer just a fraction of the pain that caused Leelah to choose suicide. May your God have mercy on you.


 

If you are transgender, and are thinking about suicide, pelase contact the Trans Lifeline in the U.S. at 1-877-565-8860 or at translifeline.org.
The Trevor Project operates a 24-7 confidential hotline for LGBT youth. If you're in crisis or feeling suicidal, please call 1-866-488-7386, chat with them online here, or text them here.
If you are struggling with identity, visit Half Of Us.
To learn more about being transgendered, visit GLAAD or Look Different.



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