Edited by Nuri Héd
On February 8th, Nex Benedict (they/them) died one day after being overpowered and repeatedly beaten against the girls’ bathroom floor (of which Oklahoma’s law forced them to use) by three older girls. They needed assistance walking to the nurse’s afterward, and only received emergency treatment after returning home.
Nex Benedict is the only one currently reported to have received a suspension. The Owasso Police Department is claiming their death was not related to the attack, and that they are waiting on a toxicology report that could ‘take months’.
This comes just shy of two years after Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law SB615, which was declared an ‘emergency’ to expedite the bill. Its only purpose is to pass restrictive measures around bathroom use, including banning gender-neutral bathrooms and mandating that students use bathrooms that match their assigned gender at birth or else get federal funding pulled.
Oklahoma rates #49 out of 50 in K-12 state education, and #48 in healthcare. No one specializing in education, health, gender studies, or LGBT+ standards of care were consulted in the writing of this bill, which has contributed a hostile learning environment.
This is not the first anti-LGBT+ instance that has taken place in Owassa High School: in August 2022, two months after the anti-trans bathroom bill was passed, Chaya Raichik, who goes by “Libs of TikTok” online, took aim at an Ellen Ochoa Elementary School for having an LGBT-friendly educator. This educator became the target of death and bomb threats, resulting in their resignation. Libs of TikTok has been linked to 21 known bomb threats and targeted harassment by hate groups like Proud Boys.
Last month, State Superintendent Ryan Walkers appointed Chaya Raichik, who is unlikely to even live in the same time zone as Oklahoma, to the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s Library Media Advisory Committee.
The national LGBT+ community continues to be targeted by hundreds of dehumanizing bills each year, with states within our own country being declared high risk or no travel advisories due to the danger they pose for some of their own citizens.
Massachusetts has two of its own anti-LGBT bills in consideration as I write this.
Children like Nex will continue to be murdered – including by other children following the examples of bigoted adults – as long as we allow those who pursue an agenda of hatred to lead us.
May Nex’s family find them justice, and find peace. May Nex’s memory be a blessing.
