Court: Transgender woman can be cremated
May Peleg left behind a will with instructions that she be cremated, but her estranged ultra-Orthodox family wanted a traditional Jewish burial.
The remains of a deceased transgender woman can be cremated as per her will, despite objections from her estranged ultra-Orthodox family that wishes to bury her in a traditional Jewish ceremony, the Jerusalem District Court ruled on Wednesday.
May Peleg was 31 years old when she took her own life, leaving behind two children. She was born male into an ultra-Orthodox family and realized she was transgender as a child. "At the age of five and a half I was abused at home and by the age of nine I had a desite to die," she wrote in her suicide note.
She was sent to boarding school as an adolescent following her father's death. "In practice, I lived on the street a lot, took a lot of drugs and alcohol in an attempt to escape and dull the pain, suffered horrible loneliness, and experienced continuous casual rape and sexual exploitation and many sexual attacks," Peleg wrote.
Peleg served in the military, then married and had two children with her partner. She then suffered an outbreak of severe fibromyalgia.
"In the following years, I tried to kill myself but failed, I had a divorce and gender reassignment, including a difficult operation that I went through alone," Peleg recounted.
Members of the LGBT community remember Peleg as a sympathetic ear and a shoulder to cry on – a charismatic leader figure. In 2013, she was selected to head the executive committee at the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance.
Peleg also formed a support group for transgender people and was active in promoting awareness of mental illness.
Peleg's suicide note read, in part: "The values according to which I acted: love of humanity and life, acceptance of the other, tolerance, and opening your mind, truth, and justice.
"I want you to remember these values. Please stay away from hatred and fighting. Stay away from anger, maintain justice and truth, be pluralistic and stay open-minded and use critical thinking.
"Follow your truth and make your dreams come true.
"Accept all living people as they are. Stop fearing and hating the other.
"Don't judge others. You can never know what the person in front you has really gone through.
"Spread love and at least reduce hatred.
"Think of how your actions affect others.
"Try to help whoever you can. In general, if you can, make sacrifices for others. If you can't, at least try to help those who are close to you.
"My memory is what you will take away from my life and carry in your hearts; it is my legacy. If there is anything that was worth all the suffering I went through in life, it is that you will take my legacy and continue it."
