Leelah Alcorn's mother: 'We loved him'

In a farewell note timed to publish electronically after her apparent Sunday suicide, Leelah Alcorn describes the life of a tormented, transgender girl seeking acceptance from various institutions in her life.

Leelah described the combination of her home life and parental support as two of the institutions that failed her. Carla Alcorn, Leelah Alcorn's mother, described life in the Alcorn household differently during an interview with CNN.

Carla Alcorn did so while referring to her late child as a son and as a "good boy" during the CNN interview. Not as a daughter.

"We don't support that, religiously," Carla Alcorn told CNN regarding 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn's sexuality. "But we told him that we loved him unconditionally. We loved him no matter what. I loved my son. People need to know that I loved him. He was a good kid, a good boy."

R ead the full CNN interview

On Sunday, just before 2:30 a.m., Alcorn walked 4 miles from her middle-class Kings Mills neighborhood with its views of Kings Island to Interstate 71. There, she was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer. The highway was closed for more than a hour.

Leelah Alcorn - born Josh Alcorn - wanted to make sure others never felt the way she did, writing in her farewell note, "My death needs to mean something."

Carla Alcorn said in the CNN interview Leelah Alcorn never referred to herself by that name.

Leelah Alcorn did, however, request "transition surgery," known more commonly as a sex change, Carla Alcorn said in the interview.

Editorial: We must help LGBT kids

Carla Alcorn also described a point in the relationship with her daughter where Leelah Alcorn simply stopped discussing her sexuality in their house.



