Posted September 28, 2015
low rated
dtgreene: Really, isolating someone is abuse, period. There is no excuse for that.
The list of suicides you posted is not complete. The reason so many post-Leelah suicides are on the list is that the media payed more attention to them; Leelah's suicide was definitely not the only one.
Also, I never made any comment on whether publicizing the suicide note was a good idea or not, though it is clearly what she wanted.
My solution to the problem consists of education (not just of the kids!) and laws to make the worst abuses illegal and to provide LGBT people the same protections other minorities get.
RWarehall: It may not be complete but it sure shows a trend...and tell me one suicide note left where someone didn't want it read? Just because someone wants it out there, sometimes that is a very bad idea. Or are you trying to claim that trans teens have been dying over once a month and no one has noticed and no one bothered to backtrack and get their names for the list? I'm inclined to believe that there are 7 names on that list after Leelah, who may not have followed through if it were not the publication of her suicide note. The list of suicides you posted is not complete. The reason so many post-Leelah suicides are on the list is that the media payed more attention to them; Leelah's suicide was definitely not the only one.
Also, I never made any comment on whether publicizing the suicide note was a good idea or not, though it is clearly what she wanted.
My solution to the problem consists of education (not just of the kids!) and laws to make the worst abuses illegal and to provide LGBT people the same protections other minorities get.
So, education, can you define what you mean by that, how it works? For how long has it been that people have been told not to judge someone else by the color of their skin? Is that working? And if there is an out trans teen at the school, might this education put more of a spotlight and him or her?
And making what you call the "worst abuses" illegal. I take it you've already decided that Leelah's parents are on that list without hearing their side of the story, right? And by same protections other minorities get, enlighten me on what protections Leelah didn't get that other minorities do?
So what's your practical plan? Any teen commits suicide, lock their parents up because its a clear sign of abuse? Anyone who calls them a name, same? The strange thing in Leelah's case, I don't hear many complaints about others in school, just that she seemed to hate her parents...is that enough? If a teenager hates their parents, the parents are automatically guilty?
Education is easy to say, how do you accomplish it? New wave minority rights, what rights are you talking about that only certain minorities get? Do the so-called majority not also get these rights?
Also, it has been shown that people who know at least one LGBT person (or rather, know they know at least one LGBT person) are more accepting of them. Having at least one out transgender person give a talk at a school might help; better yet, if a teacher (or other authority figure in the school), preferably a popular one, is openly trans.
That sort of thing.