Nearly 80 people honored a 17-year-old Ohio transgender girl who committed suicide on Dec. 28 at a downtown vigil Sunday night and recalled the Nov. 3 attack nearby on Candice Rose Milligan, a Toledo transgender woman.
The parking lot vigil, outside St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, was across from the site of Ms. Milligan’s attack at 12th Street and Madison Avenue.
Similar vigils marking the suicide of Leelah Alcorn of Kings Mill, Ohio, were organized by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organizations in other parts of the country. She killed herself by walking into traffic on I-71.
Her suicide note on Tumblr has galvanized members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community.
Lily Briggs, co-founder of the Toledo Transgender Resource Organization, wants the vigil to draw attention to the struggles of transgender people and the dangers they face.
Ms. Briggs said young Alcorn felt rejected by her parents because of her gender identity and committed suicide after her parents refused to allow her to transition from male to female. Young Alcorn, born Josh Alcorn, initially came out as gay to friends.
Dave Crafts, executive director of EqualityToledo, which works toward ending discrimination, opened the vigil by reading young Alcorn’s poignant suicide note to his parents. More than a dozen people stepped up to relate stories of family rejection and suicide attempts.
Mr. Crafts and Ms. Briggs said they wanted to use young Alcorn’s suicide note and her plea to “Fix society. Please,” as a call to action.
Mr. Crafts said “nearly half of transgender teens in America suffer from depression and have attempted to harm themselves.”
Several commentators said among the challenges they face is discrimination in the work force or their inability to find a job because of their sexuality.
“We have to organize to fix society, because we are society,” Ms. Briggs said.
In late November, nearly 50 people participated in Transgender Day of Remembrance at the Sylvania United Church of Christ.
Ms. Milligan also spoke, noting that her appearance in the parking lot across from the site of her beating was the first time she’s been back to the area.
Police said Ms. Milligan was walking on Madison Avenue near 13th Street when three men approached her and made derogatory comments. One man punched her in the face, mouth, and head. The other men kicked and punched her before fleeing.
Her injuries required 20 staples in her head, and her jaw was wired shut.
A suspect, Christopher Temple, 20, was indicted on felony counts of felonious assault and aggravated robbery. He has pleaded not guilty in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
Mr. Temple was being held on $150,000 cash bond.
His trial is scheduled Jan. 20 before Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Dean Mandros.
In an annual ranking assessing the level of pro-LGBT laws and policies in municipalities nationwide, Toledo continued to lag behind other Ohio cities in the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index.
The index scored Toledo at 58, significantly below the 70 ranking it got a year ago, and was last among six Ohio cities and just below the state average of 59 in the report issued in November.
The report took into account how law enforcement handles hate crimes in each city and police engagement with their LGBT community.
Locally, Toledo lost points in this year’s index because of the police department’s failure to report hate crime statistics to the FBI. The city also lost points for not providing health-insurance coverage to transgenders and the mayor’s office lack of a LGBT liaison.
However, city officials said the scoring for category of the index is because the city had no hate-related crimes in 2012, the reporting period used for the index.
First Published January 5, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
