The tragic death of transgender teen Leelah Alcorn sparked national conversation on critical issues faced by the members of the transgender community. Alcorn, a transgender teen from Mills, Ohio, left behind a suicide note detailing her difficult home life, including her parents refusal to accept her identity, her struggles related to isolation and forced conversion therapy after her parents pulled her out from school, and a final plea to “Fix society. Please.”
In her note, Leelah was clear about what needed to be fixed in society. She cited that her parents’ actions, such as refusing to recognize her gender identity and their attempts to take her to Christian “therapists” in order to change her identity, were fundamental in making her life much harder than it needed to be. She pleaded for greater education on gender, greater compassion on behalf of the parents of transgender teens, and a call for greater compassion and understanding for LGBT identifying individuals.
Gender identity and gender expression are complicated topics. Throughout the years, we have gone from regarding gender identity (how we experience and internalize our identity as male/female or beyond the gender spectrum) as something purely determined by our biology and chromosomes to an identity that is a complicated combination of biology, psychology, neuroscience, and social environment.
Activists such as Laverne Cox and Janet Mock have been instrumental in helping the public both become aware of problems that affect the transgender community and shifting the conversation away from sensationalized portrayals of transgender individuals, toward much more informed conversations on what it means to identify as transgender in America.
We need to recognize that people who identify as transgender have had a harder time finding acceptance and compassion in their communities. Trans youth face higher rates of harassment and bullying in high school. They reportedly face social isolation and depression, and several (such as Leelah Alcorn) face rejection from their parents and are unable to express their gender identity. Organizations, such as the “It Gets Better” project, attempt to encourage trans youth that life does indeed get better, but that promise can seem a far off and futile hope for trans youth.
What Leelah’s death highlights is the importance of becoming allies. In social justice circles, being an ally refers to being a person who, though is not systematically oppressed, uses their voice and privilege to help those disenfranchised (ex, male feminist allies, white allies for racial justice, etc.). Being an ally means becoming aware of critical issues that affect a particular community, and becoming active in eradicating those same issues.
Becoming allies also means that we need to understand our place and acknowledge our ignorance about certain topics or areas. Becoming allies does not mean we get a free pass in saying whatever we want, such as using derogative slurs towards members of the LGBT community or asking invasive questions. While being an ally does not mean we are never allowed to falter or occasionally be ignorant about certain issues – we are human after all, and we will make stupid mistakes – it does means that we need to have a sincere desire to acknowledge and correct our mistakes.
We need to become allies. We need to not only become more informed about issues that affect the LBGT community (such as their disproportionately high poverty, suicide, and violence rate), but also make an effort to encourage dialogue and discussion on these issues, and become active in eliminating these issues.
For more information on being a better ally, check out this awesome video by Francesca Chescaleigh Ramsey, and this article from GLAAD on tips for being a better ally towards transgender individuals.
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