KINGS MILLS, Ohio (WJW) — The death of a 17-year-old transgender teen is getting national attention — in part due to a suicide note she wrote online, pleading for others to “fix society.”
According to WLWT, Leelah Alcorn, 17, was born Joshua Alcorn. She was hit by a tractor trailr on Interstate 71 Sunday morning. Before her death, Leelah wrote a suicide note and posted it on Tumblr.
In the lengthy note, she said she felt “like a girl trapped in a boy’s body” since she was four years old. Leelah said when she turned 14, she found out about the possibility of being transgender and “cried of happiness.” But she also discussed her parents’ disappointment and unwillingness to accept her.
“There’s no winning,” 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 isn’t true in my case. It gets worse. Each day I get worse.”
She said the only way she would ever rest in peace is if one day transgender people “aren’t treated the way I was, they’re treated with valid feelings and human rights.”
She ended by saying, “My death needs to mean something. Fix society. Please.”
Leelah’s friends and even strangers across the country have taken to Twitter and Facebook, creating a hashtag, #LeelahAlcorn, to raise awareness of her life and the transgender community.
