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bnyrbt · 3 months

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Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old Oklahoma high school sophomore, was beaten by three girl classmates in the bathroom of Owasso High School on Feb. 7. On Feb. 8, Nex – who identified within the Two Spirit, transgender, and gender nonconforming (2STGNC) umbrella – was declared dead at the hospital.

Now LGBTQ+ Oklahomans are mourning the loss of a straight-A student, a Minecraft fan, and animal lover – a teenager – in a school district previously targeted by Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik; Raichik now sits on the statewide library advisory board. In 2023, Oklahoma censured the state’s only nonbinary representative — not to mention signing into law a bill forcing public school students to use the bathroom associated with their gender assigned at birth; advocates are currently closely watching several anti-trans pieces of legislation.

Before Benedict’s name was made public, a source who claimed to be the mother of Benedict’s best friend told a local outlet the cause of death was “complications from brain trauma,” and that “three older girls were beating the victim and her daughter in the girl’s bathroom.” (We are not linking because the story uses Benedict’s deadname. According to Freedom Oklahoma, it’s not presently clear which pronouns Benedict used, so this story will refrain from using pronouns for Nex.) The anonymous source also alleged that Benedict couldn’t “walk to the nurses’ station” without assistance and that the school did not call an ambulance, while the school claims they were unaware of the fight until informed by a parent; on Feb. 20, the school backtracked, acknowledging that students saw the school nurse after the fight.

Texts allegedly sent by Nex after the fight to a family member, published by an Owasso Fox affiliate on the 20th, began, “I got jumped at school 3 on 1 had to go to the ER… They had been bullying me and my friends and I got tired of it so I poured some water on them and all 3 came after me. School did not report to the police and is probably getting sued [redacted].”

Benedict’s grandmother Sue, who also adopted Nex, brought Nex to the hospital after the fight, then home again; the next day, Nex was brought back to the hospital and was pronounced dead. Sue told The Independent that Nex was suspended for two weeks from school on the day of the fight; Sue also mentioned that Nex had been bullied throughout this school year.

“Nex did not see themselves as male or female. Nex saw themselves right down the middle. I was still learning about it, Nex was teaching me that,” Benedict told The Independent. “I was so proud of Nex. They were going some place, they were so free.”

Multiple outlets and individuals, including Oklahoma newscaster Wendy Suarez, as well as Freedom Oklahoma, the state’s LGBTQ+ advocacy org, connected Benedict’s death to the appointment of Raichik, who’s been accused of “stochastic terrorism," to the state’s “Library Media Advisory Committee” in January by the state’s Secretary of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters. According to the Independent, a “teacher who Nex had greatly admired” resigned in 2022 after Raichik targeted them on social media. Raichik has denied any responsibility in Benedict’s death, and has instead misgendered Nex repeatedly in social posts. As for Walters, in a 2023 video released by the Oklahoma Department of Education, he utilized transphobic rhetoric. He has also banned students from changing their gender on school records.

“All 2SLGBTQ+ Oklahomans deserve the safety to thrive,” reads in part Freedom Oklahoma’s statement about Nex Benedict’s death. “And that is becoming increasingly difficult, especially for 2SLGBTQ+ youth in Oklahoma schools who face a growing list of targeted harms from bans on access to playing sports that align with their gender, to single sex bathroom and changing room restrictions that further ostracize and endanger students, non-consensual outing by school officials, shrinking access to safe adults at schools because of mandatory outing policies, censorship in school libraries that results in less 2SLGBTQ+ representation, chilled speech that makes 2SLGBTQ+ identities all but erased in school spaces at all, and a list of newly proposed harms making their way through this session with rhetoric that drives 2SLGBTQ+ hate, especially hatred of and harms towards 2STGNC+ people.”

Some outlets reported that Nex Benedict was a member of the Cherokee Nation. On Feb. 20, Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr., the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, issued a statement clarifying that “Upon searching our database, we have no indication that Nex was a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. However, Nex was a child living within our reservation and deserved love, support, and to be kept safe.” The Independent’s coverage of Nex’s death claims the family “trace[s] part of their roots to the Choctaw Nation.”

For days following the attack, there was little news released on Nex’s identity, let alone identifying Nex as the child involved. On Feb. 20, as news media caught onto the story, both Owasso Public Schools and the Owasso Police Department issued an update on the investigation into Nex’s death, claiming they were still confirming the cause of death, and with the school district stating they are cooperating with authorities. The unnamed parent of Benedict’s friend claimed in the above-referenced interview that "at one point, one of the girls was pretty much repeatedly beating [Benedict’s] head across the floor."

“All of this takes place within the context of a Legislative session where Oklahoma policy makers are seeking to worsen the sense of isolation, erasure, and targeted harm 2SLGBTQ+ students face in an already hostile school environment,” wrote Nicole McAfee of Freedom Oklahoma in an Instagram post on Feb. 19, detailing a weeks’ worth of anti-LGBTQ legislation up for consideration in the state.

On Feb. 19, State Rep. Mauree Turner, Oklahoma’s only nonbinary representative, held a moment of silence for Benedict on the state house floor. In a video of the moment, Quorum Call reporter Tyler Talley observed that “while many members did quiet, some [members] continued with their conversations.” Last spring, Rep. Turner was censured within the Oklahoma state legislature for allowing a protester at a trans rights protest in the House to shelter in their office.

“Every day I get more angry that we, politicians, no matter your party affiliation are aiding in a transgenocide,” Rep. Turner wrote in a statement posted to their Instagram. “I think about how after I read Nex’s obituary on the house floor, a Democrat came to me and said well we don’t know if they actually died because of the beating… But we absolutely do. Nex’ death is a direct result of a failed administration in a public school that didn’t value the life of a trans student. A failed administration that was empowered by a failed local government who has created open season, and more specifically a transgenocide in Oklahoma.”

A GoFundMe launched by the family has recently surpassed $75,000. (Nex’s deadname is listed on the GoFundMe, which the family has called an accident.) Sue Benedict told the Independent the funds will “go to children dealing with the right to be who they feel they are.”

“Nex had a light in them that was so big, they had so many dreams. I want their light to keep shining for everyone,” she told the Independent. “That light was so big and bright and beautiful, and I want everyone to remember Nex that way.”

#op #links #trans #non-binary #choctaw #oklahoma #nex benedict #transphobia #child death #hate crime #murder #transphobic violence #uspol #news #bad news

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