200,000 sign petition on transgender law

Henry Molski | The Cincinnati Enquirer

CINCINNATI — A petition to enact a "Leelah's Law" and ban transgender conversion therapy has gathered more than 200,000 virtual signatures in less than 48 hours of its posting to change.org.

The petition, addressed to President Barack Obama, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., calls for the president and House leadership to "immediately seek a pathway for banning the practice known as 'transgender conversion therapy.' "

Posted by the Transgender Human Rights Institute, the petition asks for the bill be named in memory of Leelah Alcorn.

On Sunday, just before 2:30 a.m., Alcorn walked 4 miles from her home in the Kings Mills neighborhood to Interstate 71. There, she was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer.

By Tuesday evening, Leelah's story, fueled by the suicide note that she'd scheduled to post on social media, had become a worldwide story — one of how transgender teens often feel alone and afraid. The hashtag #LeelahAlcorn was topping Twitter; news sites worldwide had picked up the story, and someone had even created a Wikipedia page for Alcorn.

The petition on change.org says that transgender youths have one of the highest suicide rates in the country, citing the American Association of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers and the American Counseling Association.

At nearly 11 a.m. Friday, the petition was 900 signatures past its 200,000-supporter goal.