On Sunday, December 27, 2014, Leelah Alcorn a 17 year old transgender youth wrote a suicide note, posted it on Tumblr and then walked out to a highway and out in front of a semi-truck tragically ending her life. In her last post, Leelah explained how her parents had forced her to attend conversion therapy, pulled her out of school and isolated her in an attempt to change her gender identity. One of the last things Leelah wrote is as follows:
“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 fucked up” and fix it. Fix society. Please.“ -Leelah Alcorn
I live in Riverside, RI. I have Medicare and NHP and the day of my surgery in August 2014 my insurance called and decided they weren’t going to pay for it. Even though for a full year my doctors, surgeons and I were told by my insurance was covered. I lost all my money, and I just stopped trying. Maybe that’s what insurance companies want us trans people to do. Give us false hope, tell us they will cover it 100%, feeling relief so we then spend the money we saved originally on our own, then tell us oops we won’t cover it, and then we never ask insurance for surgery again. It took me so long to raise money and now it’s gone. The same exact thing happened to a woman from Providence named Althea Shaheen who had an article about it in The Daily Beast recently. Yet I get no recognition for it, when it happened to me first. Though I do take comfort in the fact that it happened to someone else. All hope is gone. And all thanks to RI NHP, Obama care and Medicare. I’m so done. I’m the first person in Rhode Island to change my birth certificate and state ID to male without surgery first. I changed that law, nobody else did. I got prom king at Born This Way prom. I am upset to see Jaye Watts and GLAD talking credit for my feats Options magazine. Also, I think the recent suicide of a trans girl named Leelah Alcorn should be mentioned in Options magazine. I’m happy there are new staffers at Youth Pride Inc though (Jaye Watts and Elana Rosenberg were unfit for the job). Still, I won’t go there due to there lack of resources for transgender teens. I have appealed to Options magazine to tell my story on several occasions with no avail. If it had been told, who knows what my life would have been like, if just one person had read it. I tried to commit suicide a handful of times, I’ve donated to Leelah’s final wish and the universe lost a beautiful girl. I walk on the beach shirtless, despite my moobs and keep my strength and courage, I suggest you do the same.
I never knew Leelah, never met her. I never knew anything about her, until her death was announced to the world.
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I’m so ashamed at her family for not truly loving her like if she was there own. Because of their lack of love, parenting & support they lost a beautiful child.
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I hope one day our WHOLE WORLD will accept the LGBT community.
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As a whole nation, it is a must to work on acceptance & equality.
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No matter what gender, race or sexuality you are, your still human & that’s one thing a lot of human beings don’t seem to understand.
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I don’t understand why the LGBT community has so much hate. Especially when the community has done nothing to you, besides love who they choose to love.
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Whether it’s shoes, an accessory, an animal or even simple things like food, loving ANYTHING is possible, which includes loving the same sex.
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I hope Leelah gets her wish, because she truly deserves it. She deserves so much more then what her parents gave her & as for her parents, shame on them. If they were true Christians that lived their life by God, they would’ve accepted Leelah for wanting to be who she was because Gods loves all & everyone’s equal.
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My dear, I know you’ll never see this, but I hope you enjoyed every bit of your last Christmas & last day here on earth my angel.
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R.I.P Leelah Alcorn 1997 – 2014
I am a mother who is sorry this tragedy happened for all. For Leelah, who couldn’t live not being able to be who she felt she really was.
And for the parents, who were unable to see past their own convictions enough to support her right to be happy.
I make a vow to my son, that if he ever felt he was gay, bi, trans, or anything that is not defined as the “norm” by society, that the very first thing i will say to him will be “I love you and I’m happy you know who you are. Some people go through life never finding who they are or what makes them happy. What can I do to help or support you?”
I love my son, and no matter what i believe is personally right for me, I know I cannot decide what is personally right for him. I can only love and support him while he does.
Carla, if you do visit this page and read these comments, please consider allowing Leelah to lay to rest under the name she felt represented her in both her life and her death. For the son you remember, and the daughter you never knew. You also have the choice of acknowledging both, and there is time before you have to make such a decision.
I am so sorry because I am almost sure that she didn’t want to die 🙁 she just didn’t saw another escape from cruelty and suppression. I understand her very well, but still I am sad nobody could get her out of that bullshit bevor she died.
Reading of Leelah’s story just sickens and saddens me. Religion should be banned in this damn world. It is too often used to justify and hide behind bigotry, hate, fear and contempt. Those who are relying on their HMO’s and the like in the US have you considered SE Asia ? They do some amazing work there and for a pittance based on what US healthcare costs. Leelahs parents have only themselves to blame for what happened but no doubt like so many so called “christians” they will blame everything and anything else rather than face the truth. RIP Leelah, wish l had of known you, you like so many other TG’s deserve so much better.
Leelah’s story has touched me on many levels. I’ve read more about conversion therapy and what I’ve found sickens me. Members of the LGBT community have been mentally and physically tortured. It’s sickening. I am currently writing a speech to give to my speech class concerning conversion therapy and Leelah’s story and law. I want to play my part in stopping more tragedies like this from happening. It’s a shame that it takes the death of a passionate young woman to wake up the world to these abominations. Hopefully Leelah’s last wish will be fulfilled, and perhaps eventually transgenders, as well as the rest of the LGBTQIA+ community, will be treated equally
Why haven’t people realised yet that this needs to stop! Why must we risk others lives in order to keep to the “norm”? There are so many stories about people (mainly teenagers) taking their life because they can find no other way out of the hellhole they live in, yet we stand by idly and pretend that everything is fine. This story is sickening, the fact that nobody was willing to listen to Leelah when she needed help the most. I hope that people soon realise the extent of the turmoil that the LGBT+ community go through when people are unable to accept us for who we are.
Nobody should ever be unaccepted, everyone takes part in the events of this world no matter their gender, sexual orientation, romantic orientation, religion or race.
RIP Leelah Alcorn 1997 – 2014