For all those parents browsing #LeelahAlcorn let me ask you this, what is more difficult, accepting your child as transgender or having to bury them because you couldn't?!
My death needs to mean something.
FIX IT. FIX SOCIETY. PLEASE.
They are the words we have left from Leelah Alcorn.
Leelah's death does mean something. To people all over the world that are grieving a young woman's life lost and the parents that did nothing to stop it. All because they just couldn't accept the life their daughter wanted for herself.
Leelah set up a time stamped post to be posted to her Tumblr after she had already taken her own life.
Leelah's parents NEVER accepted her as a transgender woman. In fact they did everything to tell her that it was just a phase. Put her into therapy with only Christian therapists who told her she was betraying God.
Leelah had some advice for parents of transgender teens and children.
She begged them to never tell their child that being transgender is “a phase,” “that God doesn’t make mistakes,” or that they can never truly be the gender they feel they are.
"If you are reading this, parents, please don’t tell this to your kids. Even if you are Christian or are against transgender people don’t ever say that to someone, especially your kid. That won’t do anything but make them hate them self. That’s exactly what it did to me."
Being transgender isn't a phase. It isn't something that someone is going to grow out of. Leelah felt trapped in a boys body from the age of 4 years old. FOUR. And all her parents could do was shun her and refuse to accept who Leelah was. What kind of parent does that?!?
As a parent myself I want to say that I could understand the shock of having your child tell you that they are transgender. Honestly, who wouldn't be somewhat taken aback by that? But. To drive your child to the point of taking their own life? To call it a phase when it was something that had been ongoing since they were 4 years old? SHAME ON YOU ALCORN PARENTS. SHAME ON YOU. Leelah wanted to be accepted and loved by her own flesh and blood and she couldn't even be given that. Even after her death, Leelah's "mother" posted a status that read:
Leelah was 17 when she died, not 16. And even after she had passed her mother still referred to her as "Joshua Ryan Alcorn".
That Facebook has since been made private and the post was deleted.
Leelah even sent out a sorry note on Tumblr apologizing to those she was leaving behind. Those she loved and would miss. To her parents she simply said,
"Fuck you. You can't just control other people like that. That's messed up."
How terrible of a parent must one be that even when their child, their daughter, was going to kill herself that her only words to you were "fuck you"? And RIGHTFULLY SO.
THEY are the ones that drove Leelah to end her young, not fully-lived beautiful life. Because they couldn't accept who their daughter was. There is nothing wrong with being transgender. To be able to come out as transgender is a beautiful, admirable thing.
How many young people are going to have to die before we as a society accept that being transgender is biological, not a sin, and not a problem? It's the same as when someone is gay. Someone doesn't just wake up one morning and say "I think I'm going to be gay today." It's how we are born. It's in our DNA. And there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Bi-Sexual, Transgender - we are all beautiful human beings. We are ALL PEOPLE that should be accepted and loved for who we ARE not for our sexual orientation. How many young lives are going to end like the life of Leelah Alcorn? THINGS NEED TO CHANGE. WE NEED TO SPREAD LEELAH'S VOICE. HER MESSAGE. TO THE WORLD. TO ANYONE THAT WILL LISTEN.
We are HER voice now. Because she no longer has one. She was driven to suicide at the hands of hateful, disapproving, "parents" who refused to let her transition and told her she was wrong. And when Leelah tried to "lessen the burden" for her parents by just coming out as gay at school they acted as though she was attacking their image and acted as though Leelah was an embarrassment to them. Pardon my French, but WHO THE FUCK DO THEY THINK THEY ARE TO TELL THEIR DAUGHTER WHO TO BE IN LIFE??!
Taking their daughter out of public school, taking away her laptop and phone, isolating her completely from any social media?! They drove Leelah to this. This horribly tragic and heartbreaking ending.
LEELAH ALCORN DESERVES JUSTICE.
Her parents should be punished.
The blood of their own daughter is on their hands.
Stemmed from their hatred.
Disapproval.
Ignorance.
YOU DON'T DESTROY THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE.
YOU JUST DONT.
We are supposed to love our children unconditionally, no matter what. They need to know that even if we aren't happy with something they might be doing that we still LOVE THEM. No matter what. And if you, as a parent, CHOOSE to show them otherwise then you have FAILED as a parent and as a human being.
I am a firm supporter of the LGBT community. And I always will be. I couldn't ever imagine not accepting my child for how they were born and who they are. If my son came out to me one day I would never shun him or make him feel as though he were "wrong" or inferior or an embarrassment. He would know that he was still forever loved and forever accepted. I would never make him feel as though he shamed God or our family for who he was. Because as parents that is WRONG. It is vicious and heinous. And I could NEVER live with myself knowing that I didn't do everything I possibly could to make my child feel loved and accepted and they felt that ending their own life was the only way out.
FIX SOCIETY. PLEASE.
Leelah is begging us to fix it.
What happened to Leelah was 100% PREVENTABLE. This could have been stopped. Her parents could have easily said, "Leelah we love you, no matter what, & we are here for you." And guess what? Leelah would still be here. But she isn't. Because her parents drove her to this.
"Fuck you. You can't just control other people like that. That's messed up."
THAT is how your own daughter felt about you because of how you treated her, even up until her last breath. That she was hated and unloved by her own parents.
They claim to be Christians. Religious, and children of God.
They are monsters.
Christians, if you reject abortion, but refuse to love your LGBTQ children, please don't bother to call yourselves "pro-life."
So parents I will ask you again... what is more difficult for you? Not accepting and loving your child as transgender or having to plan their funeral at the hands of your own doing?
WE ARE LEELAH'S VOICE.
Your death means everything, Leelah.
We will FIX SOCIETY.
#JusticeForLeelah #RIPLeelahAlcorn #ProtectTransKids #FixSociety #BeLeelahsVoice #Equality #Love #ProudSupporter
Xoxo, Jenna
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