Hundreds Of People Attend A Candle Vigil For A Trans Teenager

Saturday, January 3 saw hundreds of LGBTQ supporters attend a candlelit vigil in honour of Leelah Alcorn, a seventeen-year-old trans student who took her own life at the end of December.

Born Joshua Alcorn, Leelah came out as transgender to her parents who subsequently took her out of school and banned her from using social media. Her desperate suffering led Leelah to take her own life, after scheduling a heart-wrenching letter to her parents on Tumblr.

Calling for society to be fixed, she wrote: “My death needs to be be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say, ‘that’s f-ked up’ and fix it.”

Leelah's passing has received extensive media coverage, leading to her mother, Carla, giving an interview with CNN where she iterated: “People need to know that I loved him”.

The Alcorn’s had come under a lot of scrutiny for letting their Christian beliefs dictate their treatment of Leelah’s transition.

The vigil was attended by between 200 and 300 supporters of the LGBTQ community. It was opened and closed with a call for everyone to turn and hug someone.