Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Heights family with a transgender child faces an uncertain future in Ohio
The Burkle family’s home in Cleveland Heights is warmly lit, filled with the sounds of laughter and joy — a contrast to the grey winter weather outside. The family’s two children laugh as they play video games and leaf through magazines with their parents, Alicia and Aaron.
However, that joy is mixed with a sense of dread about the future and what that future means for the Burkles’ younger child, 11-year-old Astrid, who is transgender.
The Ohio Senate is expected to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of House Bill 68 this week, which would ban transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming medical treatments or playing on girls’ sports teams.
Astrid said she knew she was a girl very early in her life.
“That was right around when I could talk. I started voicing my feelings about who I was to my parents about preschool or pre-K,” she said.
With her family’s support, she decided to socially transition when she was 8.
“When I did transition, I realized I needed this to live as a full person of who I am,” Astrid said.
She added: “It makes me feel happy. I can’t explain how happy I am to just be who I am.”
Community support
Astrid and her family said their interactions with her classmates, school officials, neighbors and the community have been mostly positive.
Ryan Loew
/
Ideastream Public Media
Alicia, Astrid’s mom, said school officials in Cleveland Heights actively worked with the family to support her daughter.
“We put together a plan on what bathrooms Astrid would use, how could we communicate this transition and change to her classmates so that anybody who knew Astrid before, we could communicate that with them,” Alicia said. The family also established the name and pronouns Astrid now uses.
Aaron Burkle, Astrid’s father, said the school system acts quickly whenever there are any problems.
“When there was any kind of negative talk or bullying language, the school administration, the teachers and staff really handled it swiftly and appropriately,” he said.
Most of their neighbors have been accepting, too.
“Most of them are just like, ‘Oh, OK, cool’ or they might say, ‘What does that mean?’ or ‘How did you know?’ We’re always willing to share our story, explain the process. Astrid is willing to tell them her story, just so they can understand better our journey,” Alicia said.
An uncertain future in Ohio
Astrid said the support of her neighbors and school makes her feel accepted in her community.
“I just feel so happy that people are accepting where I am and who I am,” she said.
Astrid knows not everyone feels the same — that they think she’s too young to express a gender other than the one she was assigned at birth. But she rejects what she views as their prying into a personal matter.
“Why is it anybody else’s business? They should be worrying about other things. I’m just a kid going to the doctors. You don’t need to worry about it,” she said.
Astrid has not received any medical treatments related to her gender. Yet she and her family resent the idea that she will likely be unable to receive such treatments in Ohio should she seek them in the future.
Her sibling, Abs, who is 15, said legislation banning medical treatment is a tremendous concern, not only for Astrid, but the entire LGBTQ+ community.
She added lawmakers need to understand “the fear that they’re striking into the hearts of young, queer people everywhere,” and that the long-term impact of such legislation is frightening.
“I, myself, am queer,” Abs said. “And it’s more than just they’re attacking young, transgender folk because then they’re going to move to transgender adults, and then they’re going to move to gay marriage, and they’re going to continue to attack our community as a whole.”
Alicia said if HB 68 becomes law, as is expected to happen, her family will be left with a terrible choice.
“We love our community,” she said. “We love our school, we love our church. We love our family and friends that we have here, so we don’t want to leave here. But that’s not something we’ve taken off the table because there’s more legislation coming down the pipeline [that] could make it ultimately unsafe for Astrid to continue to live in the state.”
That’s the dilemma facing transgender children and their parents throughout the state, Alicia said. But in the meantime, Astrid said she’s going to continue to live the fulfilling life she and her family have created in the city and state they call home.
“Just because I’m transgender doesn’t mean I’m not a normal person,” she said. “There’s lots of normal people who are transgender, and I’m just one of them.”
By Anash.org reporter
Rabbi Yehuda Leib (Leibel) Alevsky, longtime shliach to Cleveland, Ohio, who directed the local Chabad institutions for decades, passed away on Monday, 3 Iyar.
He was 86 years old.
Born on 1 Sivan 5699 in Chernigov, Ukraine, to Reb Chaim Boruch and Mrs. Sima Chaya Alevsky, his father was drafted into the Russian army to fight the Nazis when he was two years old, never to return. He was raised by his mother and his maternal grandfather, Reb Gavriel Kagan, a tomim from Lubavitch.
After the war, the family joined the mass escape from Russia under false Polish passports. After time in a displaced persons camp in Germany and then in France, the Frierdiker Rebbe directed his family to move to Eretz Yisrael. He enrolled in Tomchei Tmimim in Lod, where he studied in the zal under the mashpia, Rabbi Shlomo Chaim Kesselman.
In 5718, after receiving the Rebbe’s permission to travel to New York, he arrived on his nineteenth birthday, Rosh Chodesh Sivan, and enrolled in Tomchei Tmimim at 770. He quickly distinguished himself and was among the first bochurim chosen for the Shivas Knei Hamenorah (“Kanim”) – a group of fourteen select students, seven in Chassidus and seven in nigleh, designated to deliver shiurim and pilpulim before the entire yeshiva.
Beginning in 5722 and until her passing in 5725, he merited to serve Rebbetzin Chana, the Rebbe’s mother, assisting her in numerous ways and spending many hours in her presence.
That same year, he became the first official employee of Tzach, the Lubavitch Youth Organization, under Rabbi Dovid Raskin. He ran the organization for a decade, taking responsibility for hakhalas kehillos, tahalucha, Shabbosim in outlying communities, shiurim, and the printing of the first four volumes of Likkutei Sichos. He also spearheaded the global Keren Hashishim campaign in honor of the Rebbe’s 60th birthday.
During those same years, he developed a close working relationship with Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Eizik Chodakov, the Rebbe’s secretary and chief of staff, whose yahrzeit also falls on 3 Iyar. In an interview with Anash.org, Rabbi Alevsky recalled how Rabbi Chodakov would summon him late at night during yechidus evenings and offer suggestions for Tzach’s activities. He initially did not always act on them – until he once found that the Rebbe himself referenced those same suggestions during a yechidus, making clear to him their true source.
As the neighborhood of Crown Heights began to change, he also acted as a liaison for Tzach to city officials, securing grants and property to stabilize the community.
He merited rare closeness with the Rebbe, and on several occasions, he was called upon to drive the Rebbe to the Ohel. Recognizing the need for the Rebbe to have communication from the Ohel to 770, he arranged for a car phone to be installed in the Rebbe’s vehicle—a luxury that cost $900 at the time—which the Rebbe utilized to send out hora’os. He also arranged for the permanent “No Parking” zone in front of 770 so the Rebbe’s car would always have clear access.
He married his wife, Devorah, daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Schneur Zalman Kazen, one of the Rebbe’s pioneering shluchim, in Cleveland on Chai Elul 5722. At the yechidus before the wedding, the Rebbe told the young couple: “Az ir vet machen lichtig arum eich, vet der Aibershter machen lichtig bai eich” – when you spread light around you, the Aibershter will illuminate your own space as well.
At the same time of their Chasuna, the Rebbe held a surprise farbrengen in 770, announcing the upcoming “Shnas Hakan” (150 years since the Alter Rebbe’s passing). The Rebbe had Rabbi Hodakov phone the wedding hall so the Chosson could repeat the Rebbe’s words to the assembled guests.
In 5727 (1967), during a yechidus for his 28th birthday, he asked the Rebbe if his mother and sister should leave Eretz Yisroel due to the looming threat of the Six-Day War. The Rebbe responded prophetically that there was no need to worry, as the war would be over in ten days.
In 5732 (1972), he began his shlichus in Cleveland, joining his father-in-law in expanding Chabad activities in the city.
Over the following decades, he led the community and oversaw immense growth. He built a replica of 770 in Cleveland to serve as the headquarters for the Chabad activities there.
He organized groups of mekuravim who would travel together by bus to receive the Rebbe’s brochos by Sunday dollars.
During the events of Shemini Atzeres 5738 (1977), Rabbi Alevsky was instrumental in the efforts for the Rebbe’s health, helping to urgently bring a doctor to 770.
When the bank threatened to foreclose on the Chabad building in 5744, he flew to the Rebbe and submitted a detailed report on the situation. The Rebbe responded, “Azkir al hatziyun,” and within days the full amount was raised in what he described as an open miracle.
He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Devorah Alevsky, and their children: Sarah Freedman – Bahia Blanca, Argentina; Chani Glitzenstein – Maaleh Efraim, Eretz Yisroel; Kaila Sasonkin – Akron, Ohio; Rabbi Chaim Boruch Alevsky – Cleveland, Ohio; Miriam Greenberg – Solon, Ohio; Dinie Greenberg – Shanghai, China; Estie Marozov – Pepper Pike, Ohio; Rochie Sudak – London, UK; Rivky Friedman – Brooklyn, New York; and Rabbi Mendy Alevsky – Cleveland, Ohio.
The levaya will take place today in Ohio at 4:30 p.m. at the Waxman Chabad Center, followed by kevura at Anshe Sfard Cemetery.
Boruch dayan hoemes.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Three people were seriously injured after a car crash on I-90 at Eddy Road early Sunday morning, according to Cleveland EMS.
EMS told 19 News that paramedics responded to the I-90 West and Eddy Road for a car crash.
Paramedics took a man in his 60s in serious condition to Metro Health, a man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s, both in serious condition, to University Hospital.
19 News has reached out to Cleveland Police for more details about the crash.
This is a developing story. Return to 19 News for more details.
Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.
What is a Press Release?
A “press release” is promotional text issued by a rider, team, company or organization to inform
the public about an event, product, or service from the issuer’s own point of view, and if deemed
to have news value, may be placed on roadracingworld.com as a service to our readers.
A press release is not an article written by Roadracingworld.com staffers. When a post is labeled with the words “press release”, it means that Roadracingworld.com is not responsible for its content and that Roadracingworld.com makes no guarantee that it is accurate. Not all press releases are posted and Roadracingworld.com may reject press releases if the content is too heavy on commercial promotion with little or no news value or if the press release contains obvious errors.
-
New Jersey6 minutes agoDan Levy’s new Netflix comedy ‘Big Mistakes’ was filmed at these New Jersey locations
-
New Mexico12 minutes agoWarm start to the week across New Mexico
-
North Carolina18 minutes agoNorth Carolina High School Football Program Promotes From Within
-
North Dakota24 minutes agoRetired Game & Fish Director facing new charge of molesting a child – KVRR Local News
-
Ohio30 minutes agoOhio Secretary of State Democratic primary pits outsider vs. insider – Signal Ohio
-
Oklahoma36 minutes agoPutnam City West moves to virtual learning after student incident
-
Oregon42 minutes agoOregon Ducks Safety Target Elijah Butler Nearing Crucial Point in Recruitment
-
Pennsylvania48 minutes agoOfficials react to Pennsylvania abortion ruling, Medicaid ban struck down