Leelah Alcorn’s suicide stands as a rotten cherry atop a year stained by intolerance and hostility. But before I start on how messed up this world is, with people who harm others out of prejudice, parents who wrong their children out of narrow-mindedness, and institutions that stunt social progress, allow me to clarify that I will be using “trans" as an umbrella term for people whose self-identification or expression transgresses established gender categories or boundaries, including transgender, transsexual, intersex, and genderqueer individuals. “Trans” will also serve to avoid discrepancies over what the appropriate way to label a certain identity is.

We’ll start with the facts. On December 28, Leelah Alcorn, a 17 year-old, transgender girl from Ohio, walked into Interstate 71, where she was hit and killed by a semi-trailer. She had left two queued posts, which were automatically published on her blog: her suicide note—the original version of which has been deleted, along with her blog—and apologies to a few people. In them, she attributes the unhappiness that prompted her suicide to issues faced by many trans people. The persistence of these issues, even in the 21st century, is more than disappointing. The social epidemic of discrimination against people outside of heteronormative canons has to stop. 

While Leelah is a single person, this is in no way an isolated incident. A study by the American Association of Suicidology states that “sexual minority status is a key risk factor for life-threatening behaviors among transgender youth,” which is disturbingly accurate. The same study also reveals that 25 percent of a sample of trans individuals had tried to commit suicide, and a larger percentage had considered it. The Youth Suicide Prevention Program estimates that 50 percent of trans youth have at least one suicide attempt by the time they turn 20. If there is a group in which nearly two out of every four members try to kill themselves, there is a major issue that needs to be addressed. 

It doesn’t take much to see a pattern of discrimination in teenage trans suicides. Chloe Lacey, Riley Moscatel, Lexie Lopez-Brandies. All of them faced discrimination throughout their lives, and we should feel their pain. The issue at hand is that misinformation and ignorance can easily turn into bigotry and transphobia, leading parents and others to do what is worst despite intending what is best. Leelah’s letter describes this very clearly: “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.”

Because of their biases, Leelah writes, her parents continued calling her Josh even after she asked them not to do so (and even after she died), ignored her pleas for help to deal with depression, and made it easier for her to transition from life to death than from guy to girl. When they finally took her to see a therapist, it was for conversion therapy, which has been proved to cause deep harm and scar the individuals undergoing this modern-day form of psychological torture. We should see Leelah’s suicide as the consequence of a collective mistake. But we should also see it as she wanted it to be seen—a cause of social change, a catalyst for learning to reshape misconceptions and bring about respect.

Some might blame Leelah’s parents religion for their inability to accept their daughter for who she was—she certainly does. However, I do not think that looking down on people with those religious beliefs is useful in any way. We mustn’t combat discrimination with more discrimination, and while Leelah’s parents’ transphobia might stem from Christianity, there are Christians in favor of trans rights, just as there are non-religious people who are against equality, whose attitudes originate from ignorance and fear. As Leelah stated, “gender needs to be taught about in schools, the earlier the better,” in order for everyone to have an integral education and to better appreciate all forms of human diversity. There is no better way of improving the current state of affairs than educating people and changing ancient policies that do not favor equal rights.

For instance, half of the schools in Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network’s 2013 comprehensive National School Climate Survey didn’t have a supportive student club for LGBT students, and the ones that did, were mostly Gay-Straight Alliances, which, while inclusive, contribute to bi- and trans-erasure. Pride Clubs and Queer Alliances, on the other hand, might be a better alternative; they include students outside of the homo-heterosexual spectrum, and also address the different types of gender expression that people have.

Similarly, creating a curriculum that incorporates LGBT-related information—only 31 percent of schools in the survey do, and over a third of those actually cover it negatively—and providing more accessibility to reading materials and other curricular resources that can be used to further understanding of LGBT issues would result in students being more accepting of forms of gender expression and sexual orientation that differ from the norm. 

Educating young minds to be more appreciative of human diversity can make a huge difference in how they will act in the future, which potentially creates a safer environment for trans and other queer people. We are in need of laws that protect trans people. Only a few states have made medical care affordable to the majority trans people by banning trans health exclusion in insurance plans, and currently, only 10 states have laws that that protect victims of hate crimes based on their gender identity. We need to go beyond that, and give trans people the protection they deserve by offering them the same treatment that everyone else gets.

“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’s letter reads. Discrimination must end, and this can only happen if people are educated and equality reached. I am appealing for public education about trans issues, for those who are no longer in school to look for resources and educate themselves, for healthcare for trans people—which is a necessity, not a commodity—for prejudice to be left behind, for conversion therapy to be banned, and for Leelah’s death, as well as those of other trans teenagers, to mean something.

 

Bruno Moguel Gallegos ’18, a Crimson editorial writer, lives in Canaday Hall.