Hundreds of
people gathered on a cold, rainy Saturday evening at Kings High School in
Cincinnati where Leelah Alcorn attended before her parents enrolled her at an
online school, Ohio Virtual Academy.
The 17-year-old
committed suicide last Sunday after writing in an online diary that her parents
didn't accept that she identified as female.
While some were
friends, others were there to support the call to end discrimination of
transgender people and to protect transgender youth.
Over 250,000
people have signed an online petition on Change.org calling on US President Barack Obama to enact a law protecting transgender youth from the
conversion therapy which is suspected to have contributed to Alcorn’s
suicide.
News of her
death made headlines around the world when her messages on her social media
account documented her struggles came to be known.
'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,' she
wrote on Tumblr.
She also wrote
about how her parents forced her into conversion therapy which contributed to
her suicide.
'My death needs
to mean something,' she wrote in the post, which she scheduled to appear the
day after her death.
A separate
vigil has been planned on Jan 10, 7pm at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center, 3711
Clifton Ave, Cincinnati. It will be hosted by the Diverse City Youth Chorus and
the Cincinnati chapter of GLSEN, or the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education
Network.
Thanks for posting this!
ReplyDeleteyou are welcome, I didn't want to post this because it such a sad story
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