The post I had planned to make, the first of the New Year is sadly of necessity different in the light of Lehlah Alcorn's death, the circumstances that lead to her suicide (refusal of family to accept her transgendered identity seeing it as 'sinful', her forced participation in so-called 'corrective therapy' organized by the Church her parents belonged to removal from high school for home tuition to further isolate her) .
I do feel strongly her parents have a lot of responsibility for how feeling she was of a different gender to that she was assigned to at birth, was handled leading to being so distressed that face a life of this, in the end she took hers.
Some indication of the extent to which her parents refused to accept her as herself can be seen in their instance that in death her death wasn't her's being reported as that of a male, that any reference to her transgender feelings and status expunged as if they weren't and are not for real.
I truly feel that unless you've been in similar situations dealing with parents who flat out refuse to accept what medical science and human psychology tells you about gender, physical attributes or sexuality that apply to you, you cannot begin to understand how not just wrong footed but cruel ones family can be.
My own feelings are that had the actions taken by her parents been those by a Board of Education and Mainstream counselling services, an investigation would be opened and charges may well be bought.
My mainly Libertarian view point usually balks at bringing the Law into family belief and practise, believing very much in the state only becoming involved to defend the rights of individuals from coercion, this tragic event does pose the question should "corrective therapy" be permitted at the State level given the general view of those in secular practise who believe it is emotionally damaging?
Thanks. I won't forget.
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