Guest hosting on ABC’s “The View” on Thursday, transgender actress
Laverne Cox responded to the death of Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old transgender
teen who died by suicide just days after Christmas.
Leelah’s suicide was explained in a note she left on her Tumblr page, in which she blamed
years ofbullying and
harassment, rejection
from her parents, and for being subjected to Christian counseling and conversion
therapy.
Cox recounted her own struggles growing up, including a suicide
attempt at age 11.
“It got better for me when I learned how to reach out and get
support, when I really did the work to truly love myself. And that’s a lot of
work, but you can’t do it alone,” said Cox.
“I don’t want to demonize her parents, her parents must be going
through the worst thing any parent would go through. But I think what they did
by isolating her and not supporting her, she didn’t feel like she could reach
out for support, I think that’s the worst thing you can do.”
A 2010 study by from the National Center for Transgender Equality
report that 41 percent of people who are transgender or gender-nonconforming
have attempted suicide sometime in their lives, nearly nine times the national
average.
Additionally, more than 50 percent of transgender youth will have
had at least one suicide attempt by their 20th birthday.
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