Leelah Alcorn

The preferred name of the male-to-female transgender teen previously known as Joshua Alcorn. Leelah committed suicide early in the morning on December 28, 2014, by leaping in front of a speeding truck. On her Tumblr account, Leelah set a suicide note to be posted soon after her death. The note describes her life story of living with emotional abuse from her family, not being able to see her friends, and being subjected to conversion therapy against her will. Leelah's parents, Carla and Doug, punished her severely when she first came out to them; punishments included being taken out of high school, having no time with friends, and losing access to internet and cell phone communication. The Alcorn parents are extremely conservative Christians who could not accept Leelah's hopes. After the suicide, Carla Alcorn made numerous statements on Facebook and on television interviews, all the while referring to "Joshua" with male pronouns, despite their child's dying wishes. Leelah's story became viral within days, being broadcast on news channels around the country. A petition called Leelah's Law, posted by the Transgender Human Rights Institute, was signed by hundreds of thousands of internet users. The suggested law is a ban of transgender conversion therapy, a cruel practice that has been medically proven to greatly increase depression and suicide rate in American transgender youth.