Sharon Coolidge

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Editor's note: Leelah's suicide and the conversation her note inspired has rocked families in the Ohio region, becoming part of a national conversation. Here, we share the facts and report what happened.

In life, Leelah Alcorn felt alone. Born male, she feared she would never be the woman she felt like inside. In death, the transgender 17-year-old -- born Josh Alcorn -- wanted to make sure others never felt that way she did.

"The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren't treated the way I was, they're treated like humans, with valid feelings and human rights," Alcorn wrote in a post on Tumblr.

Her parents, she wrote, wanted her to be a "perfect little straight Christian boy."

"My death needs to mean something," she wrote in the post, which she scheduled to appear the day after her death.

Her final public words: "Fix society. Please."

On Sunday, just before 2:30 a.m., Alcorn was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on I-71 in Ohio, about four miles from her home in Kings Mills.

No charges have been filed, and the State Highway Patrol continues to investigate. Her body was sent to the Montgomery County Coroner for an autopsy, which will take several weeks.

"She was super bubbly and upbeat with a really brash sense of humor; she could make anyone laugh," said Abigail Jones, 17, one of Alcorn's co-workers and friends. They were caricature artists at Kinds Island, an Ohio amusement park.

Jones even drew Alcorn as Elsa from Frozen, "her favorite thing ever."

The duo was close -- going to see movies, getting ice cream and texting. In July, Alcorn told Jones that she was transgender.

Alcorn's family declined to comment to The Enquirer. In a statement via the Kings Local School District, they requested privacy. According to the statement, Alcorn was most recently enrolled as an 11th grader at the Ohio Virtual Academy, an online school.

"Joshua Alcorn was a sweet, talented, tender-hearted 17-year-old," the statement from Kings read. Counselors will be available when students return from winter break.

There are no national statistics about how many transgender people commit suicide, partly because it is not always known. In 2010 the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force reported 41% of 7,000 transgender people surveyed had attempted suicide.

An analysis of the survey responses by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and UCLA Law School's Williams Institute last January showed transgender people who experienced rejection by family and friends, discrimination, victimization, or violence have a higher risk of attempting suicide.

Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach, the city's first openly gay councilman, has taken on Alcorn's cause. In a post on Facebook - shared more than 4,700 times - Seelbach said Alcorn's death shows just how hard it is to be a transgender today in the U.S.

"By reading her letter, Leelah makes it clear she wants her death to, in some ways, help 'trans civil rights movements'" Seelbach wrote.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati.com.