(I put your essay in a spoiler for the sake of efficiency xD)I'll have to disagree on what you said about her parents. I am not one bit doubtful that Leelah's parents would prefer a living daughter over a dead son, no matter how much they would recoil at the thought. They loved her until the end, but they also treated her transgender situation as a separate thing. She may be a trans, but they didn't accept it. I don't think they even recognized it as an actual thing. I can't exactly speak for them, but I'm definitely hoping that this world isn't so messed up that even parents can manage to want their own children dead.
Haha, I really want to stay off the religious topic. As an atheist, I'm extremely tempted to say that religion 'distorts' people's view, but I know that's not right. I may be as wrong about the world as any other person with the bias I hold in myself. However, beliefs, often stemming from religion, continues to act as a barrier for a kid coming out. It definitely isn't to say that religion is evil, but it is a big thing in the process of the acceptance of society. As I'm writing this, I'm confusing myself further. I'm reminded of my brother, an atheist who supports gay marriage, but slightly homophobic. So this is really a fight against set beliefs, right? But that'd be enforcing your own belief upon others, which makes you the 'enemy'. Belief vs. Belief fights never turned out so great in history. To force? No, that's too strong of a word. To ease society towards change would be the right course of action, but then you'd go back to the strong roots of religion instilled in a good population of people (again, I really hope I'm not wording it in some offensive way). To not fight, but to ease a belief on an equally set of stubborn people as yourself is quite the daunting and delicate task. I'm literally talking to myself here
What do they do in 'therapy', anyway? That's really something I'd like to know. Verbal abuse sounds fitting enough, but what do they say? And what did their sweet talk do to convince the parents that'd the 'treatment' would be effective?
Oh, Steam Powered Giraffe! That's the robotic band you talked about a while back, isn't it? Anyway, I looked through her blog and Youtube channel. Her month-by-month series of how the hormones are working is spectacular. I mean, that change! You'd start off on the 1st day of hormones, where you just see a man talking about stuff. Then fast forward to six months and one day, you would have no idea this very feminine woman is the same person as the one in the previous video. You can see just how happy she is too; a successful transitioning really makes people happy. Also, the last few entries on her blog are written beautifully. Yeah, her writing skills are definitely above par, but you can tell her excitement from it too. She mentioned how flattered she was when she went out to public places, and people didn't even give her a second look. She was finally recognized as who she was. And by the way, that's a cool middle name she chose xD
Ah, I feel that I should correct my last post to "the world", not "America". But definitely! As newer generations are becoming more exposed to the outside world faster via the Internet, it's expected that society will naturally become a more accepting place. I don't know if there are any government-sponsored support programs for trans (and of other sexuality) kids who are tossed out on the streets by their family, but we definitely more if those. Public restrooms is a hard one for me to take a stance on. If you're already through transitioning, than you'd obviously just go where you want to go. But if you're not, then wouldn't it be easier to just go to your biologically-assigned restroom? It saves a lot of explaining, and the facilities are better fitted anyway.
aw darn, I don't think I beat you in the longer and more insightful post