Nex Benedict’s death has left the state’s trans, queer and Indigenous communities in mourning. Chief Gary Batton told one outlet that Nex’s mother is a member of the Choctaw Nation
Oklahoma’s queer community is reeling after the death of an LGBTQ teen who allegedly faced bullying at school for months.
Nex Benedict, 16, died Feb. 8, a day after the Owasso High School sophomore was allegedly assaulted in a school bathroom, according to Nex’s family. There are still a lot of unknowns, and a police investigation is ongoing.
But the information that is available about Nex’s identity, the bullying they allegedly faced at school, and the effects of recently enacted state laws targeting LGBTQ students have left Oklahoma’s queer and trans communities both angry and in mourning.
Nex’s mother, Sue Benedict, told the Independent that Nex was bullied due to their gender identity starting in the fall, after the state implemented a new law that bars transgender students from using the school bathrooms that align with their gender identities.
Though it’s unclear exactly how Nex identified, Benedict told the Independent that Nex “did not see themselves as male or female. Nex saw themselves right down the middle.” The family continues to use they/them pronouns for Nex in statements and on a fundraising page.
It’s also unclear whether the fight in the bathroom was connected to the bullying Nex told their family about. However, some LGBTQ Oklahomans and members of the community nationwide believe it’s impossible to separate Nex’s death from the surge in legislation and rhetoric targeting the community in the state.
“While various investigations are still pending, the facts currently known by the family, some of which have been released to the public, are troubling at best,” the Benedict family said in a statement released Wednesday by their attorney, Jacob Biby.
The Owasso Police Department said in a statement Wednesday that preliminary information from an autopsy report shows that Nex’s death was not the result of trauma. A toxicology exam is still pending, and an official autopsy will be released later.
“We as an organization and as a community are mourning greatly for this loss,” Asher Aven, the co-director of outreach at the Transgender Advocacy Coalition of Oklahoma, told NBC News. “We need justice for Nex.”
A ‘climate that allows for anti-transness’
Last year, Republicans in the state introduced 35 bills targeting LGBTQ people out of more than 500 introduced nationwide, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Three of those became law: the bathroom law, a prohibition on transition-related care for minors, and a law that bars discrimination against religious entities should they instate anti-LGBTQ policies. In past years, fewer than a dozen such bills were filed, according to the ACLU’s data.
So far this year, state lawmakers have introduced 54 bills targeting LGBTQ people, the highest number in the nation, according to the ACLU.
The state’s school systems have also become increasingly hostile toward LGBTQ students. Ryan Walters, the state superintendent, announced last month that Chaya Raichik, the voice behind the far-right Libs of TikTok social media account, was named an adviser to a state library committee.
“Chaya Raichik and I have developed a strong working relationship to rid schools of liberal, woke values,” Walters said in a statement after Raichik was named to the library committee.
Raichik’s account is known for criticizing LGBTQ teachers for promoting inclusivity in their classrooms, hospitals that provide transition-related care to minors, and schools that enact LGBTQ-inclusive policies. An when people or institutions that were the subject of posts by Libs of TikTok later reported bomb threats or other violent intimidation.
Raichik has denied any connection to Nex’s death and did not immediately return a request for comment.
In December, a trans teen, identified as J. Doe in legal documents, sued the Oklahoma State Board of Education after Walters filed an emergency rule to prevent trans students from changing the gender listed on their school documents. Outside of school, Doe was able to change his driver’s permit to list him as male.
In June, the state’s education department released a video in which Walters calls trans-inclusive school policies “an assault on truth” and blasted what he called “radical gender theory” that endangers girls.
Hali, a trans girl who is a senior at a high school about a half-hour from Owasso, said Oklahoma’s bathroom law and other education policies make her feel unsafe at school. Hali asked to go by only her first name to protect her privacy.
“Being a trans person in Oklahoma and going to school in Oklahoma, it’s a challenge with going into bathrooms and stuff, because it’s just really scary,” Hali said.
“The rhetoric that has been used by people like Ryan Walters and his appointees has directly created the climate that allows for anti-transness,” Hali said. “It’s only gotten worse over the last two years. Before that, it still existed, of course, but you can see people that would have before been more accepting that now started harassing trans individuals, because it’s what they hear. It’s what they see all around them. So then they bring that over to the schools themselves.”
In a statement shared by Dan Isett, director of communications for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Walters said, “The safety and security of our students is my top priority as well as the first responsibility of Oklahoma schools.”
