A transgender scholar died earlier this month after they have been allegedly assaulted by their friends in a rest room at their Oklahoma college.
The Owasso Police Division mentioned that 16-year-old Nex Benedict was handled at a hospital on Feb. 7 after a “bodily altercation” at Owasso Excessive College. The police mentioned that they had not acquired a report in regards to the incident previous to being notified by the hospital about it.
Benedict was allegedly overwhelmed by three ladies within the ladies’ rest room and suffered extreme head accidents after being knocked to the bottom, in line with the Impartial. Their mom, Sue Benedict, told the news site that Nex was lined in bruises on their face and eyes and had scratches on the again of their head.
After being handled and discharged from the hospital, the teenager returned house and went to sleep with a sore head, their mom mentioned. The subsequent day, Nex Benedict was rushed to the hospital after collapsing of their lounge, the place they have been pronounced useless that night.
Sue Benedict instructed the Impartial that Nex had been bullied since early final yr, not lengthy after Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed a regulation requiring college students to make use of loos that align with the intercourse listed on their beginning certificates.
“As we proceed to mourn the lack of this scholar, our hearts exit to their household and they’ll proceed to be in our prayers. We’re right here to assist them and everybody who has been affected by this example,” Owasso Public Faculties wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
In an update on Tuesday, the police division mentioned {that a} “thorough investigation is being performed by Owasso Police Detectives who’re at present awaiting an post-mortem report and toxicology outcomes.”
No prices have been filed towards anybody concerned within the incident, as Nex Benedict’s explanation for loss of life has but to be decided by the state health worker’s workplace.
Based on the Impartial, a trainer who Nex Benedict admired was featured on Libs of TikTok, a far-right X (previously Twitter) account identified for posting anti-transgender content material. Posts from the account have led to threats towards faculties, libraries and different public institutions throughout the nation. The trainer, already going through a backlash over their TikTok movies, resigned on the identical day the Libs of TikTok account tweeted about them, according to local media.
Chaya Raichik operates the Libs of TikTok account. On Tuesday, she rejected hypothesis in regards to the connection to Nex Benedict, arguing Libs of TikTok solely posted in regards to the trainer after he resigned.
LGBTQ organizations, resembling Freedom Oklahoma, say that Raichik, who at present serves on the state’s library advisory committee, makes use of her platform in a method that “leads others to threaten actual hurt to Oklahoma children.” In a statement, the Oklahoma group described the incident previous to Nex’s loss of life as a “attainable hate-motivated assault.”
The U.S. has seen an onslaught of laws concentrating on transgender individuals within the U.S., starting from bans on gender affirming care to restrictions on rest room use, such because the regulation in Oklahoma.
Based on the American Civil Liberties Union, a complete of 437 anti-LGBTQ payments have been launched or handed within the U.S. to date in 2024, following extra 500 launched in 2023. It’s a sample that has prompted the Human Rights Marketing campaign to declare a state of emergency for LGBTQ individuals.
The group has additionally raised alarm in recent times about anti-trans violence. A Human Rights Marketing campaign report revealed in November discovered that not less than 33 transgender and gender-nonconforming People had been killed prior to now yr.
