The transgender life: What to know, say and understand

By Ashley Fantz, CNN
updated 10:59 AM EST, Fri January 2, 2015

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/01/us/transgender-questions-leelah/index.html

(CNN) -- The weekend suicide of a transgender teen in Ohio sparked an intensely emotional reaction across social media which shows no sign of letting up. Born as Josh Alcorn, the teen signed an online suicide note as Leelah.

Leelah explained that she always felt like a girl and wanted her parents to accept that. They did not, mother Carla Alcorn told CNN, for religious reasons. Though she loved her child, the mother struggled to wrap her mind around what transgender means.

"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," Leelah pleaded in her note. "My death needs to be counted."

There is more information than ever about transgender people -- from new research to a freshly written book of personal essays, "Trans Bodies, Trans Selves" to the critically acclaimed new Amazon series "Transparent."

Sometimes it takes one tragedy to spark a massive paradigm shift and this might be it. She wanted her death to have meaning and it may very well do so beyond anything she could have imagined.

That's a pretty decent article for CNN, which is not exactly known for depth or thoughtfulness.