Leelah Alcorn Tumblr - An Ohio transgender teen, who used her suicide note to claim she ended her life because her parents would not allow her to change medically, has exposed the issues that transgender people face and suffer. Her death prompted the world to treat LGBT people as human beings.
A suicide note reportedly left by Leelah Alcorn has prompted the authorities to investigate the death to determine if there was a link to the incident. According to ABC News, the note reportedly had been scheduled to post on Tumblr after the Alcorn died.
The 17-year-old teenager, Leelah Alcorn, who's been identified as Joshua Alcorn, died a few miles from her family home in Ohio. The Independent UK reported she was hit by a tractor-trailer just before 2:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. The Ohio State Highway is investigating the incident, which happened on the southbound Interstate 71 in Union Township in Warren County.
Leelah Alcorn originally posted the alleged suicide note on his Tumblr page, WCPO-TV reported. In the note, Alcorn detailed the difficulty she faced while growing up.
"The life I would've lived isn't worth living in... because I'm transgender," the note said. "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."
"After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was," the note continued. "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."
Leelah Alcorn also wrote about gender identity and of being rejected on Tumblr. The Huffington Post reported the suicide note also detailed how she felt when her own family rejected her. She felt hopeless and saw dying as her only option.
"I'm never going to be happy," Alcorn wrote. "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."
"That's why I feel like killing myself," she added. "Sorry if that's not a good enough reason for you, it's good enough for me."
Leelah Alcorn's death is so tragic but it was never unique. Her death echoes for a need to fight that LGBT people have the same right to live in a world fraught with discrimination. Her death calls for action of equality and respect.
"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..." Leelah Alcorn posted on Tumblr. "My death needs to mean something. My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who [die by] suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say, "That's fucked up," and fix it."
The Leelah Alcorn's suicide was one of the tragedies caused by society's discrimination and the stigma for those who have struggled with gender identity. Meanwhile, her post went viral on social media that sparked reactions from its users.
Leelah Alcorn's suicide note on Tumblr just voiced out her experiences about the harsh judgments LGBT people usually faced. But will there be justice for LGBT discrimination?
