Leelah took her own life after her parents refused to accept that she wasn't a boy.

Editor’s note: This post deals with suicide. Some readers may find the article triggering.

A transgender teenager left a tragic suicide note on social media before killing herself after her devout Christian parents failed to accept her.

Shortly before her death, Leelah Alcorn, 17, posted on her Tumblr account that she had identified as a girl since she was four.

Image via Leelah Alcorn’s Facebook page.

She had been raised as a boy named Joshua Ryan Alcorn, but she “cried of happiness” when she realised she was transgender at age 14.

However, after she told her parents, they told her she was wrong because “God doesn’t make mistakes”.

They had forced her to see a Christian therapist and refused to consent to her transition.

“After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was…I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn’t make mistakes, that I am wrong. If you are reading this, parents, please don’t tell this to your kids. Even if you are Christian or are against transgender people don’t ever say that to someone, especially your kid. That won’t do anything but make them hate them self. That’s exactly what it did to me.”

On December 28, Leelah took her own life on a highway close to her Ohio home.

Image via Leelah Alcorn’s Facebook page.

Her mother, Carla Wood Alcorn, reacted to the tragedy by posting a tribute to her “son” on Facebook and did not refer to the suicide.

Leelah ended her note by pleading with society to be more accepting of transgender people:

“My death needs to mean something. My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say “that’s f***ed up” and fix it. Fix society. Please.”

Image via Leelah Alcorn’s Facebook page.

If this post brings up issues for you, or you just need someone to talk to, please call Lifeline on 131 114. You can also visit the Lifeline website here and the Beyond Blue website here.