Leelah Alcorn was an American transgender girl who committed suicide. Her death sparked international attention when her suicide note, a scheduled post to Tumblr, posted automatically a few hours after her death. The note detailed the lack of acceptance and abuse she faced from her parents. Her mother sent her to multiple Christian conversion therapists which further reinforced the idea that she was "selfish and wrong."
She requested permission to transition when she turned 16, but her parents rejected it, causing Leelah more emotional pain. She publicly came out as gay, upon which her parents removed her from school and enrolled her in virtual classes. Her parents isolated her from her friends and did not allow her to use social media. Her parents returned her phone, but by then most of her friendships had been strained. In posts to Reddit, she detailed verbal abuse by her parents.
She had planned to commit suicide days earlier, but chose not to after contacting a crisis hotline. In her suicide note, she stated that she felt as if she would never be happy as herself. In it another post to Tumblr appearing shortly after her suicide note, she apologized to her friends and siblings, but blamed her parents. An additional handwritten suicide note which read "I've had enough" was thrown out by her mother after police made a copy of it.
Her death attracted the attention of several celebrities and news organizations. Several vigils were held for her in various locations. A petition to ban conversion therapy was started in her name. Then-president Barack Obama responded to the petition by calling for a ban on conversion therapy for minors. Cincinnati, Ohio banned conversion therapy, with one council member citing Leelah's suicide as having influenced the passage of the law. An Adopt-A-Highway program was undertaken for the portion on which Leelah had committed suicide, which still meets four times a year to clean that portion of the road.
Leelah Alcorn was an American transgender girl who committed suicide. Her death sparked international attention when her suicide note, a scheduled post to Tumblr, posted automatically a few hours after her death. The note detailed the lack of acceptance and abuse she faced from her parents. Her mother sent her to multiple Christian conversion therapists which further reinforced the idea that she was "selfish and wrong."
She requested permission to transition when she turned 16, but her parents rejected it, causing Leelah more emotional pain. She publicly came out as gay, upon which her parents removed her from school and enrolled her in virtual classes. Her parents isolated her from her friends and did not allow her to use social media. Her parents returned her phone, but by then most of her friendships had been strained. In posts to Reddit, she detailed verbal abuse by her parents.
She had planned to commit suicide days earlier, but chose not to after contacting a crisis hotline. In her suicide note, she stated that she felt as if she would never be happy as herself. In it another post to Tumblr appearing shortly after her suicide note, she apologized to her friends and siblings, but blamed her parents. An additional handwritten suicide note which read "I've had enough" was thrown out by her mother after police made a copy of it.
Her death attracted the attention of several celebrities and news organizations. Several vigils were held for her in various locations. A petition to ban conversion therapy was started in her name. Then-president Barack Obama responded to the petition by calling for a ban on conversion therapy for minors. Cincinnati, Ohio banned conversion therapy, with one council member citing Leelah's suicide as having influenced the passage of the law. An Adopt-A-Highway program was undertaken for the portion on which Leelah had committed suicide, which still meets four times a year to clean that portion of the road.
