Recap

Six Must-Read Stories About Gay Mormon Husbands and Iranian Drug Wars

Also, an open letter to Leelah Alcorn. The Beast’s best from this past week.

The Insurance Company Promised a Gender Reassignment. Then They Made a Mistake.By James JoinerThea Shaheen had waited her whole life for the body she was supposed to be in. Days away from her dream being fulfilled, it all fell apart.

Your Husband Is Definitely Gay: TLC’s Painful Portrait of MormonismBy Samantha AllenMy Husband’s Not Gay isn’t so much an indication that Mormonism is homophobic as it is a sign that Mormon homophobia has taken an even subtler and more pernicious turn.

The Dangerous Drug-Funded Secret War Between Iran and PakistanBy Umar FarooqIn the largely forgotten deserts of Baluchistan that straddle the Iran-Pakistan border, covert wars are underway that could have far reaching consequences.

Dear Leelah, We Will Fight On For You: A Letter to a Dead Trans TeenBy Parker MolloyBefore she apparently committed suicide, Ohio transgender teenager Leelah Alcorn wrote a note outlining the awful prejudice she endured at the hands of her parents and society. In memoriam, Parker Molloy writes a powerful letter to Leelah.

Exclusive: Inside a Cop-Killer’s Final HoursBy Michael DalyDetectives have painstakingly pieced together Ismaaiyl Brinsley’s path between arriving New York and his murder of two police officers—and what they found is chilling.

The Real-Life ‘Downton’ Millionairesses Who Changed BritainBy Tim TeemanLady Grantham of ‘Downton Abbey’ is far from an anomaly. British aristocrats married American heiresses in droves in the early 1900s. But was it really as simple as ‘cash for class’?

Unlock a year of full access to The Daily Beast for $35.