Leelah Alcorn, transgender girl, kills self due to bigoted parents

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Most suicides are tragedies and this is no exception.  I understand and sympathize with what led to the decision but I strongly wish that at the very least a different method had been chosen, even if the alternatives to suicide were not available and/or acceptable to her.  Involuntarily involving another person in your suicide is a horribly selfish thing to do.  That trucker will likely wonder for the rest of eir life if there was anything that ey could have done to avoid having eir truck be the instrument of another person's death.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I have no idea what trans people go through both internally and externally, but it's obvious that the parents completely dismissed or didn't understand that their late adolescent child was experiencing real and severe emotional and psychological difficulties, and as such should never, ever be treated this way. Minimally, I hope that lesson comes out of this. This is a serious issue that needs to be treated as such. The parents reacted as though their child was misbehaving or something, and that's disturbing.

If they didn't believe that transgenderism is "real", then why wouldn't they think this was a phase or some other sort of rebellious behavior?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I have no idea what trans people go through both internally and externally, but it's obvious that the parents completely dismissed or didn't understand that their late adolescent child was experiencing real and severe emotional and psychological difficulties, and as such should never, ever be treated this way. Minimally, I hope that lesson comes out of this. This is a serious issue that needs to be treated as such. The parents reacted as though their child was misbehaving or something, and that's disturbing.

If they didn't believe that transgenderism is "real", then why wouldn't they think this was a phase or some other sort of rebellious behavior?

Oh, I think they thought it was "real" alright. I think they either dismissed or were ignorant of the underlying causes of what was going on, and that's tragic. They just said, "God made you a boy!" or whatever, which is a complete dismissal of the situation.

I can't ken that anyone who would say that could believe that transgenderism was anything other than a chosen behavior instead of an innate characteristic.  Hence in that sense, they wouldn't believe it was "real".

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Jumping in front of a car or truck and directly putting a person at fault for a death is a pretty selfish act.

you know what's actually a selfish act? putting your beliefs ahead of your child's well-being.

Because of course they totally believed that they were pushing their child to suicide.

Feel free to believe as I do that the parents' belief here was wrong.  However, while they were wrong, I also believe they thought they were acting in the best interest of their child.