Rest in Power

    by C-

 

 

 

Fix society.

        That was the final request of Leelah Alcorn, a 17 year old transgender girl from Ohio who committed suicide by stepping in front of a truck on December 28, 2014. In a Tumblr suicide note removed at the request of her parents, Alcorn wrote, "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****d up' and fix it. Fix society. Please."

        …And for a long time this message did mean something. Transgender activists loudly protested the actions of Alcorn’s parents. Ordinary citizens around the world spread her story, and the formerly taboo subject of persecuted transgender youth entered mainstream discussion. For what seemed like the first time, the general population appeared to support a positive change for transgender people everywhere.

 

        But months later, I am once again worried.

        Alcorn’s thought provoking story appears to have been forgotten by time. Even other transgender people have left the story to drift into oblivion. News agencies and transgender activist groups now disregard the event. 

 

        But that's not what Leelah wanted, that's not what she and so many other transgender youth needed. I am writing this article because I want to be able to help fulfill her final request.

        Many people blame Leelah's parents for her death. LGBT rights activist Dan Savage even said Leelah's parents "threw her in front of that truck." Her parents have often been criticized for sending Leelah to conversion therapy, and continuing to use male pronouns and Leelah's birth name, even after her death.

 

        Although I think Leelah's parents' decisions were very offensive, I am not sure they were the reason why Leelah committed suicide.

        I believe that Leelah made her fatal choice because no one told her that she could be happy. She did not believe that she would ever find love or acceptance, or be able to love herself.

        Leelah wrote "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's not true in my case. Every day it gets worse. Each day I get worse."

        So Leelah, the last part of this piece is written directly to you.

        You say you wanted your death to mean something, as if your life wouldn't have been enough. But you could have done so much more in your life than you can in death. Know that if nothing else, people like me, who still remember your story, won't stop sharing it. Your death will mean something.

        And maybe you didn't know it, but things really do get better. Step by step, I promise you, we will start to fix the society we live in.

Rest in power, Leelah.