Friday 1 September 2017

15-year old Transgender schoolboy, killed himself after ‘his school would not accept his name change


 The transgender schoolboy hanged himself one afternoon when his family believed he was revising for upcoming exams




Leo Etherington, who was called Louise at birth, was found dead in his bedroom by his dad Martin.
The 15-year-old was found dead in May this year when his dad went to check on him after he failed to go downstairs for dinner.
The inquest heard that Leo had struggled with gender identity issues since the age of eight and felt he "should have been born a boy".
He had been "angry" at his school, Wycombe High in Buckinghamshire, after teachers apparently refused to call him by his desired name of Leo.
Mr Etherington, giving evidence which was read out by the coroner, said Leo told him in 2013 that he was gay and his family accepted his decision to change his name.
He said he had assured Leo that he loved him and arranged for counselling on both his gender identity issues and the grief of having lost his mother to breast cancer.
He also told his other son, Robert, of Leo's transition and the teen - who had been using a gender neutral name at school - decided he would ask friends and teachers to also call him Leo.
But staff at his grammar school reportedly refused to accept the new name.
Leo's father said: "The school told him he had to be 16 to change his name.
"He said he was angry with the school.
"I asked him if I should speak to them and he said no. I said we could wait until he was 16 and then change his name."
Despite his tragic death, Wycombe High School head teacher Sharon Cromie has still refused to call Leo by his desired name.
In a tribute, she said: "Louise was a wonderful person in every way and is missed by us all."   


Mr Etherington also told the inquest how he attended gender identity sessions with his son.
He also offered to pay for gender re-assignment surgery when the NHS said it would not fund it.
On the day of Leo's death, Mr Etherington said Leo was "joking around" with the family during lunch, after which he went up to his room to revise for school exams at around 1.30pm.
The dad called both his children down for dinner later that day - Robert came down but he did not hear from Leo, so he went upstairs to find him.
He said: "I knocked on his door but it was locked, which was not unusual. I got out a coin to open it from the outside as it was a bathroom-type lock."
When he went in, he discovered Leo had hanged himself.
Mr Etherington tried to resuscitate him but "knew he was dead".
He called out to Robert and they called 999.
The inquest heard that a suicide note was found in Leo's room at the family home in High Wycombe.
Assistant coroner Alison McCormick ruled the death as suicide by hanging, saying to Mr Etherington: "You and Leo had a very loving, supportive relationship, and you provided all the support he needed.

"I know this must be very hard but I hope you can take some comfort from that."

1 comment:

  1. I hope other transgender chiidren will learn from this. May God have metcy on his soul.

    ReplyDelete