Dan Savage: ‘Leelah Alcorn’s parents should be prosecuted over suicide’
By Will Stroude
Gay rights activist Dan Savage has hit out at the parents of 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn, the trans teenager who tragically took her own life last Sunday (December 28).
After facing rejection from her friends and family and being subjected to sessions with “biased” Christian therapists, Leelah was killed after deliberately stepping out into the road, but not before writing a heartbreaking suicide note outlining her struggle – click here to read more.
Now ‘It Gets Better’ founder Dan Savage has reacted to the story, saying that Leelah’s “criminally reckless” parents should face criminal charges over their daughter’s death.
In a series of tweets posted yesterday (Deceber 31), the 50-year-old claimed that rejecting queer children amounts to “abuse” and that “an example needs 2 [sic] be made” of Leelah’s parents.
If Tyler Clemente’s roommate could be prosecuted—and he was—then the parents of #LeelahAlcorn can & should be: http://t.co/VC1W4wCQ7k
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) December 31, 2014
We know that parental hostility & rejection doubles a queer kid’s already quadrupled risk of suicide—rejecting your queer kid is abuse.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) December 31, 2014
#LeelahAlcorn‘s parents threw her in front of that truck. They should be ashamed—but 1st they need to be shamed. Charges should be brought.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) December 31, 2014
Savage added that the therapists who worked with Leelah should also be held accountable.
The “Christian therapists” who counseled #LeelahAlcorn should also be charged. pic.twitter.com/UrxJFuI2jq
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) December 31, 2014
Finally: #LeelahAlcorn has siblings. We don’t leave kids in the care of parents who just killed one of their other children.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) December 31, 2014
Meanwhile, a petition on change.org to have Leelah’s female name put on her headstone as an act of remembrance has garnered more than 55,000 signatures.
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