Two separate funerals have been held for a 15-year-old trans boy who took his own life after a family feud erupted over which name would be used at his memorial.
The boy’s estranged parents went to the Family Court to mediate their dispute after the father demanded the boy’s female-oriented birth name — the “deadname” that he used before he came out as transgender — be used on his headstone, while the mother argued the name he had adopted be used.
The Perth teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, died in hospital on March 4, several days after attempting to take his own life.
His mother told The West Australian that having her son’s chosen name on his headstone was an issue she would have been prepared to take all the way to the Supreme Court, despite lacking the finances.
“He (the father) wanted all the ashes (interred together) and (his son’s) dead name on the plaque,” she said.
“I would agree to have (the dead name) in brackets but his (chosen name) first.”
In the end, the parents agreed to receive half of their child's ashes and put both names on any permanent memorial plaques.