There is a girl out there buried under 6 feet of oppression

there is a girl whose headstone reads, “Josh Alcorn”

and whose body is wrapped in a black three button straight jacket

there is a girl out there whose parents would rather bury a son

than to raise a daughter

“He was just going through a phase”

and in a way yes, but now her phase is over

Leelah Alcorn set a tumblr post on her queue

to be sent out on December 27^th that was to explain her suicide.

She tells the world that her parents locked her up like an animal

Even putting her through conversion therapy

they never let her see the world

never let her connect with the people who love her

even when she did go to school, her parents didn’t give her the skill set

to weed out the negative shit and focus on how beautiful she is

and how loved she is

and what’s sickening is that in research for the poem

I discovered that her parents took down her post and left me with

only my screenshot of the last paragraph.

it read, “the one day 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. Gender needs to be taught in school, the sooner the better.

My death needs to mean something.

My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at the number and say ‘that’s fucked up’ and fix it.

Fix society, please

Goodbye,

Leelah Alcorn

Number of transgender suicides in the U.S. in 2014:

400 and one

401 people that never get to see the world change

401 people who died never feeling equal

401 people’s deaths that parents covered up as accidents

401 phases gone through

401 therapy sessions

401 homophobic repsonses

401 hey faggot nice dress

401 you’re doing it for attention

401 this is the girl’s room

401 that’s a boy’s haircut

401 the tipping point

401

That’s fucked up