Ohio group adopts road in memory of transgender teen

leelah alcorn suicide transgender teenager

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Ohio Department of Transportation has erected signs indicating that a group has adopted a stretch of highway in southwestern Ohio in memory of a transgender teenager who killed herself there nearly a year ago.

The State Highway Patrol says say 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn left a handwritten note on her bed – “I’ve had enough” – and did an online search about runaway assistance and a Tumblr search for the word suicide before walking into the path of a tractor-trailer on Interstate 71 in suburban Cincinnati in late December.

Leelah’s death prompted vigils, social media discussions and online petitions supporting transgender people.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Chris Fortin, a 2001 graduate of the same high school Leelah once attended, led the Adopt-A-Highway effort in her memory.

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