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Dan Savage: ‘Leelah Alcorn’s parents should be prosecuted over suicide’

By Will Stroude

Gay rights activist Dan Savage has hit out at the parents of 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn, the trans teenager who tragically took her own life last Sunday (December 28).

After facing rejection from her friends and family and being subjected to sessions with “biased” Christian therapists, Leelah was killed after deliberately stepping out into the road, but not before writing a heartbreaking suicide note outlining her struggle – click here to read more.

Terry Miller, Dan Savage

Now ‘It Gets Better’ founder Dan Savage has reacted to the story, saying that Leelah’s “criminally reckless” parents should face criminal charges over their daughter’s death.

In a series of tweets posted yesterday (Deceber 31), the 50-year-old claimed that rejecting queer children amounts to “abuse” and that “an example needs 2 [sic] be made” of Leelah’s parents.

Savage added that the therapists who worked with Leelah should also be held accountable.

Meanwhile, a petition on change.org to have Leelah’s female name put on her headstone as an act of remembrance has garnered more than 55,000 signatures.

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