Video by Devin Conley | Multimedia Reporter
LGBT activists marched along Mill Avenue on Saturday evening to remember Leelah Alcorn, a trans female whose death attracted international attention last December after her suicide note went viral on Tumblr, and bring awareness to trans* issues that often go unnoticed.
Nearly 20 allies attended the two-hour march and vigil, reciting chants like “we’re here, we’re queer, we’re not to fear.” Edward Valdez, a Tolleson Union High School student who was one of the event leaders, said Alcorn’s death represents the gender discrimination LGBT individuals face today.
“That note she wrote represents so much of the LGBT+ community,” he said. “It’s not just transexuals. … Everybody in that group has experienced that kind of hate one way or another in their lives and I think that we can use Leelah and her note as a symbol to keep going on and fix society.”
Valdez said the note triggered his own memories of growing up as a member of the LGBT community.
“I read her note and I cried, like, a lot,” he said. “I went through a lot of the same things and I was definitely dealing with a lot of the things she was dealing with before she committed suicide. I think that her death and the deaths of all the people in our community is significant because they don’t deserve to be dead.”
Because individuals still endure the rejection Alcorn experienced, more progress has yet to be made, co-leader Desiree Rinehart said.
“A lot of people use the argument that ‘well, it’s more common for people to come out now and there’s more acceptance,’” she said. “Yeah, we have made progress, but there’s still a lot more to be made.”
Although Alcorn committed suicide six weeks ago, Rinehart said the importance of the trans* equality movement has not died off.
“When she died, people were really into the whole 'trans lives matter' thing, but a lot of people are only into that when it’s convenient,” she said. “As months go by with these types of things, people start forgetting or not caring, so this is just a way to remind them that this is still important. We can’t just forget about this.”
Acceptance was the march’s central goal, ASU microbiology freshman Kylie Kilian said.
“Everybody knows the feeling of not being accepted, but when it’s to this extreme and it’s this much of society’s problem, I think it’s something that a lot of people need to get behind,” she said.
Those within the LGBT community recounted the moment they heard of Alcorn’s death during the vigil. Urban planning freshman Jesse Lindenberg said they felt unsettled after reading the note.
“When I first saw the Tumblr post, I was devastated, angry and I could not look at it for at least a month,” they said. “It just hurt too much.”
This emotion pushed Lindenberg to attend the march and vigil.
“I heard about (Alcorn's) suicide when it originally occurred on Tumblr and ever since, I have gone to great lengths because I identify with the trans* community,” they said. “As soon as I heard that we were doing something to support her, I just needed to go.”
Lindenberg said the trans* community is no longer willing to let deaths like Alcorn’s be ignored.
“We’re done letting things go, “ they said. “We want it to mean something. We don't want it be another ‘oh, another person committed suicide’ thing. We want the death to mean something. We want to get together and force this into action.”
Reach the reporter at aplante@asu.edu or follow @aimeenplante on Twitter.
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