Republican Presidential Candidate and Current Ohio Governor Was Completely Unaware of the Transgender Teen’s Tragic Death
John Kasich has been governor of Ohio since January, 2011, but the Republican presidential candidate says he has never heard of Leelah Alcorn, the 17-year old transgender girl who died by suicide in December of 2014. Alcorn’s tragic death was a wake-up call for the nation, largely due to her suicide note, in which she described her parents’ efforts to change her by putting her through harmful Christian-based conversion therapy.
“John Kasich said Monday he hadn’t heard of Leelah Alcorn or the Warren County transgender teen’s 2014 suicide death,” Cincinnati.com reports, adding this tweet from ABC News reporter Ben Gittleson.
“Fix society. Please,” were among her final words in a note that was scheduled to publish automatically on her Tumblr page when she died.
Kasich was asked about Alcorn and conversion therapy by Alana Klein, at a town hall Monday in Troy, New York. Â
“I’m sure you heard, in December 2014, Leelah Alcorn committed suicide in your home state of Ohio,†Klein, asked Kasich, as Gittleson reports in his ABC News article, which includes video.
“Whoa, who did?†Kasich replied.
“Leelah Alcorn,†Klein responded. “From your home state of Ohio.â€
“First of all, I’m not familiar with that case,†Kasich said, before pivoting to his position on gay marriage and failing to directly address the question about “conversion therapy.”
Kasich gubernatorial spokesman Joe Andrews told Cincinnati.com that there are “unfortunately too many tragic deaths across our state and nation each day. And as much as you wish we could recall each of those two years later, that is unrealistic.”
Even if Kasich was unaware of Leelah Alcorn and her tragic death, President Barack Obama is not. A We the People White House petition prompted Pres. Obama to call upon all states to ban conversion therapy, also known as reparative or “ex-gay” therapy.
Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that found bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, offered his thoughts on Kasich’s comments via Twitter:
Kasich has tried to portray himself as a reasonable moderate, even on LGBT issues, but his record and actions speak for themselves. He is just as ignorant and anti-LGBT as most of the rest of the 17 Republican presidential candidates have been.
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