Members and allies of the transgender community held a vigil in Trafalgar Square, London Saturday afternoon, in memory of Leelah Alcorn, the transgender teen who took her own life last week, reports Pink News.
In her heartbreaking suicide note Leelah Alcorn noted a life of pain and rejection, including by her Christian parents who refused to allow her to self-identify, before stepping in front of a truck.
Despite the death, her mother Carla Alcorn continues to refuse to use female pronouns.
The Trafalgar Square crowd lit candles to honor the teen, and a moment of silence was held, as others gave speeches.
Speaking to the crowd, former Lib Dem Councillor Sarah Brown said: “These [conversion therapists] are killing our young people through their fraudulence, their negligence, their incompetence. The lawmakers and regulators who should be stopping them are not. Leelah’s dying wish was that we work to make these things better.”
