Leelah Alcorn, killed herself after her parents, who are devout Christians, refused to accept her after she came out as trans. She did it just weeks before her 18th birthday, and posted a suicide message on Tumblr to explain: 'The life I would’ve lived isn't worth living in...because I'm transgender,'
'To put it simply, I feel like a girl trapped in a boy’s body, and I've felt that way ever since I was four.'
However, when she had told her mum about this, her mum replied: 'God doesn't make mistakes' and Leelah was sent to undergo 'conversion therapy'. You know, the enterprise where Christian counsellors try to help people 'pray the gay away'.
READ MORE: Student Banned From Bringing Her Trans Boyfriend To High School Prom
Could it get any worse? Yup. After her death, Leelah's mother Carla posted on Facebook, reports : 'My sweet 16-year-old son, Joshua Ryan Alcorn went home to heaven this morning. He was out for an early morning walk and was hit by a truck. Thank you for the messages and kindness and concern you have sent our way. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.' When asked about her daughter's transgenderism, she told ABC News**: 'We dont' support that, religiously'
As well as denying Leelah's version of accounts - this was no accident, unfortunately, the police are treating it as suicide, reports The Independent - her mum refuses to accept her as a woman even after her death and she's dead-named her. This is where people looking to undermine someone's gender identify refer to them as the name they used to use.
In Leelah's Tumblr post, which really shouldn't have had to happen for people to take notice of trans inequality, she said: 'My death needs to mean something. My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. Fix society. Please.'
And that's why, as well as campaigners using this tragedy to push for gay conversion therapies to be made illegal in the states, and others calling for the prosecution of Leelah's parents, people are signing up to an e-petition on Change.org calling for Leelah's name to be on her tombstone, not 'Joshua' as her parents decided for her. Entitled 'Have the correct name of Leelah Alcorn placed on her headstone in true remembrance' it has 65,609 signatures at the time of writing.
It has one simple goal, petitioning Leelah's mother with the letter: 'Have the correct name of Leelah Alcorn placed on her headstone in true remembrance.' We're not sure Carla Alcorn will even give a shit, but with enough people behind this campaign - and the others - there will be enough of a debate to hopefully agitate some change.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.