Transgender teen blames Christian parents for suicide

KINGS MILL, Ohio, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A transgender 16-year-old committed suicide and blamed her religious parents in a suicide note posted to Tumblr.

Born Joshua Alcorn, but preferring Leelah, the teen stepped in front of a tractor trailer on a highway near her family home in Kings Mill, Ohio, on Dec. 28.

A suicide note posted on her Tumblr page details the events that led to her life-ending decision.

Leelah said she felt confused for most of her life but "cried of happiness" when she learned what transgender meant. She then told her mother, who rejected the claim.

"God doesn't make mistakes," her mother replied.

For the following two years, Leelah went to Christian therapists who she said were never going to help her.

The therapists told her she was selfish, wrong and "should look to God for help," Leelah said.

After two turbulent years of loneliness and her parent's disappointment, Leelah said she had enough.

"There's no way out. I'm sad enough already," Leelah said. "People say 'it gets better' but that isn't true in my case. It gets worse. Each day I get worse."

Leelah's mother, Carla Wood Alcorn, posted a message on Facebook about Leelah's death.

"My sweet 16-year-old son, Joshua Ryan Alcorn, went home to heaven this morning," Alcorn said. "He was out for an early morning walk and was hit by a truck."

Leelah said in the note that she wanted her belongings to be sold and the money given to transgender advocacy groups.

She pleaded for gender education in schools.

"My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year," she said. "I want someone to look at that number and say 'that's [expletive] up."

"Fix society. Please," she said.