Trans Teen in Ohio Dies in Suspected Suicide

An Ohio teenager walked onto an interstate and was killed in what police believe was a successful suicide attempt.

Gay Star News reports Leelah Alcorn, 17, from Union Township, Ohio, walked three or four miles on the morning of December 28 and died after she was struck by a truck on I-71.

A suicide note that went live on her Tumblr account after her death suggests it was an intentional suicide. On her blog, the note reads, "Please don't be sad, it's for the better. The life I would've lived isn't worth living in... because I'm transgender."

The note explained that Leelah, born as Josh, realized she was "a girl trapped in a boy's body" since age 4, and only learned what transgender was at age 14, when she "cried of happiness."

When she told her mom, the parents put Leelah into counseling with a Christian therapist, whom she said told her to "look to God for help." She said, "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."

Leelah said she was upset her parents wouldn't let her begin transitioning, and eventually took her out of public school, took her laptop and phone and isolated her from her friends for five months.

When she returned to school, she said that her friends, "didn't actually give a shit about me," and decided that graduation only signaled the problems of getting a job, saving money for moving out and going to college.

Leelah wrote that she didn't think things would "get better' once she got older, writing, I'm never going to be happy with the way I look or sound. I'm never going to have enough friends to satisfy me. I'm never going to have enough love to satisfy me. I'm never going to find a man who loves me. I'm never going to be happy. Either I live the rest of my life as a lonely man who wishes he were a woman or I live my life as a lonelier woman who hates herself. There's no winning. There's no way out."

In lieu of a will, she said she wanted "100% of the things that I legally own to be sold and the money (plus my money in the bank) to be given to trans civil rights movements and support groups, I don't give a shit which one. The only way 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."

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating Alcorn's death, and they believe it was likely a suicide. But it doesn't seem like Alcorn's mother, Carla Wood Alcorn, is willing to accept it.

She posted a message on her Facebook page Sunday evening, writing, "My sweet 16 year old son, Joshua Ryan Alcorn went home to heaven this morning. He was out for an early morning walk and was hit by a truck. Thank you for the messages and kindness and concern you have sent our way. Please continue to keep us in your prayers."