In the news recently, many of us have learnt the story of
Leelah Alcorn who was a transgender teenager who chose to take her own life by
stepping in front of an oncoming truck due to the lack of acceptance and support
from those around her- especially from her parents. (Read this article if you
haven't been aware of Leelah's story yet: click here) In the suicide note that Leelah posted on Tumblr, she describes the difficulty she had with dealing with her parents' denial and even now her parents still talk about her with male pronouns and as
'Joshua'- her birth name. Leelah's story is one which is not uncommon however.
So many people who are not cis-gender and do not have supportive parents suffer
from mental health problems and sadly decide to take their own lives. As
you can see from the picture below, those who have parents who accept their
gender identity have a much securer sense of well-being on average:
.jpg){kind=spacer}
Which
is why I feel that it is vital that future parents question the boundaries of their
love. As Parker Molloy wrote in her letter to Leelah, "Before
you have children, it’s imperative that you ask yourself whether or not you’re
able to truly love your child unconditionally. Whether your child is straight
or gay, cisgender (non-trans) or transgender, you need to understand that this
is not something you can change about them... If you conclude that you
would be unable to love a trans child, it’s your responsibility to understand
that you are not fit to be a parent." In a society where people of
transgender are already not supported enough, parents should more so have no
limitations to the love they have for their child, especially when it concerns the comfort of their child in their own body. I am heartbroken and so sorry to Leelah Alcorn for
feeling that the only escape from her parents' and other people's cruelty was
to not live at all; but I am angry to know that many in the transgender youth
community still are excluded from feeling loved. We should all be angry about
this, and we should all work on changing our attitudes.
Fozz.
Recommended links:
No comments:
Post a Comment