Over 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for Leelah's
Law, the proposed legislation that could end LGBTI 'cure' therapy in the US.
The White House petition has gained the necessary amount
of signatures required needed for a response from President Barack Obama.
It is hoped that the law will be enacted, protecting LGBTI teens
from going through 'treatment' that most worldwide mainstream health
organizations call extremely damaging and unneccessary.
To date, only California, New Jersey, and Washington DC have
effective bans in place.
Leelah's Law is named in tribute to 17-year-old trans girl Leelah
Alcorn, who committed suicide after walking into traffic on 28 December last
year.
Before her death, she posted a suicide note on her Tumblr account.
She wrote about her mother thought she was 'wrong', took her out of
public school and isolated her, and how she would only be taken to go to
Christian therapists who told her to look for God for help.
Unaccepted by her family for who she was and forced to undergo
conversion therapy, she became deeply depressed and that was when she decided
to kill herself.
'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,' Alcorn wrote.
'Gender needs to be taught about in schools, the earlier the
better. My death needs to mean something.
'My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people
who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say
“that’s fucked up” and fix it.
'Fix society. Please.'
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