Maybe calling you a weaboo wasn't in good taste, but they're right. The situation of someone's name of the inside persona is being held back by the name of the outer persona is very different from wanting to change your name because you don't like your current one. Will your life change much because you find a name that reflects your true self, or is this a situation that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet? One is superficial, the other has significant psychological and spiritual meaning. Your argument is flawed because it has been rejected by the person it has been given to, it had no meaning to her, and the only weight it carried was on Leelah's psyche and is an insult to her life.
I agree with many of the people here that suicide isn't selfish, but it should only be sought if no other option exists.
I've had depression since I was 10 (self recognised) and was properly diagnosed at 22, I managed to be ignored by the system for 12 years until one of my suicide attempts put me in hospital because I have friends who actually care. I had suicidal thoughts all the time, I dreamt about dying at least 3 times a week, I wanted to escape from my family, I felt trapped.
When the opportunity arrived that I could get out, I took it. I can't say things have gotten better, but they have changed. I don't dream about dying anymore, I rarely have thoughts and images of dying and I never feel the phrase "I want to die" let alone say it. This is all due to barely being in contact with the arseholes who tormented me through my childhood, I live with one arsehole and I can handle that and I'm doing all I can to get away from that arsehole. I'm dealing with my issues, I am changing, my life is changing and one day I may be truly happy and I hope to be. This will never change my stance on suicide.
Your situation is/was different to mine, your depression or suicide attempts may have been fuelled for another reason than to escape, which could have shaped your opinion that suicidal attempts are selfish and cowardly.
Until having experienced the need to truly escape from what ever has you captured in your pain and torment, I'm not sure how anyone could understand.
Well, the name comment was because I don't really think a name alone matters. You could be a guy named Marie, or a girl named Peter. Would not matter. Names don't matter. If you feel you're a girl internally, that's perfectly fine. If you want to bring those internal feelings out and manifest them externally, that's fine too. But with that said, I keep coming back to this one point that nobody seems to have an answer for. Joshua was legally a child. And your comment kind of fits with it. "Until having experienced [what we're discussing] I'm not sure how anyone could understand." That goes for Joshua's parents as well. Most of the vocal proponents for the story (on Tumblr at least, and I am unsure about here; I don't know Launch's, or BloodPrince's age) appear quite young. Certainly not old enough to have children of their own. Because of that, it's odd to see so much complaining about the mother in particular not wanting to believe that her child despises everything about itself. That your child, your flesh and blood, is angry about their birth, and it probably would come across as the child blaming the parent. How would that feel?
I said it earlier in the thread, too. I really feel for the mother because she's being punished for the beliefs she's probably held since shortly after her own birth. That's what, 40ish years? And then her child rocks that entire belief system? I dunno about others, but I'd feel pretty hurt. I don't even know how I would react if I were in her position. Obviously, I'm not religious, so that part wouldn't alter my viewpoint. But even so, if my daughter came to me and said she was a boy, not a girl, I honestly can't say how I'd react. And so I really don't like the way others are acting like she's a pariah. Especially when you take into account that she has to bury her own child. Male, female, gay, straight, I don't give a flying fuck. No mother should have to do that, ever. And of course, the social justice warriors are flipping their shit over "improper use of pronouns" instead of thinking "that family has suffered a lot, maybe we should let them mourn". When you get down to brass tacks, a corpse is a corpse, and that's all Leelah is now.
Regarding the suicide attempts comment (just wanna broach that a little), most of my attempts were made in an effort to escape. Life seemed awful. There was no light or happiness in my mind, and it basically came down to "why bother waking up?" So I tried to die. I really did. I attempted multiple times over the course of three years. I tried to OD, I tried hanging myself, I cut myself. But as you can see, here I am. And I believe I'm a stronger person now. I was weak back then, I wasn't strong enough to fend off the dark thoughts that told me my only use was as a lifeless sack of bones in the ground. I was a coward. I was afraid to actually face the issues that confronted me, and I tried to run away from them via self-harm. But now it's better. I still suffer depression, I'm still prescribed pills. I have bad days. But I have a reason, a duty to stay alive. I won't run any more.
So, that's why I view suicide as a cowardly act. Because to me, it epitomised the cowardice in my mind back then.
