Dear Leelah,
Can you hear me, wherever you are? Even if you can, I doubt my voice is loud enough- there are so many of us speaking to you now, Leelah. So many people loving you, and supporting you, and remembering you, and trying to ensure that you didn't die in vain. Can you feel it? It's a bit too late now, isn't it. The world can support you now, but we can no longer save you. What kind of world is it, that makes someone so young so unable to be herself that she cannot be at all? Not a world I'm happy to live in, Leelah.
Did you know that you were going to become so well-known? That your name- your name, not a name assigned to you on the basis of your genitalia- was going to surge across the world? That's what it's done. There are petitions, groups, vigils- everything. For you, and for all those who followed the same path as you- and for all those who may feel that they, too, have no option but to kill the self they have to be, in hopes that we can stop them. If we can save just one person, Leelah- I cannot say that that will make your suffering worth it, for it will not. Nothing will compensate for the hell you must have gone through. But we can stop others going through the same, and that is something. We need to work together.
Your Tumblr's been deleted, Leelah. Did you know that? It made me sad, when I found out. I guess your parents did it, not content with silencing you enough. They've been posting tributes to a boy called Josh. They're missing the point- what they've lost is a beautiful daughter called Leelah, who they were too scared to love. That's what it boils down to, darling. The fear of being different. The fear of being wrong. I wish I could have held you, Leelah, when they put you through that silent hell. I wish I could have told you that it was they who were- and are- wrong. Not you. Never you. But Leelah, they haven't won this time. They can delete your Tumblr, they can call you whatever ignorant name they want- but they're too late. Your final speech to the world- in which you, so bravely, spoke only the truth- is everywhere. It's out of their control. We are working as hard as we can to make sure that the world knows, about a girl called Leelah.
You will not die in vain. We will rally, and we will do whatever we can to change the awfulness of the situation so many are in. All the while, we will remember what we are fighting for- not ourselves, but for the voices of those who are shouted down, told they are wrong, banned from being themselves. We will fight for each and every single person who has to look at themselves, and see someone they do not recognise. We will make sure that we reach a day in the future where it is not what we are that counts, but who we are.
I love you, Leelah Alcorn. I hope you're safe and free now.
Becky x