We know a gender-nonconforming teen in an Oklahoma high school is dead. We don’t know much else.
Nex Benedict did not have a long and troubled history with the girls who fought with him the day before his death on February 8. According to his grandmother and adoptive guardian, Nex had drawn bullies and harassment since the start of his sophomore year at Owasso High School West in the fall. These girls, however, barely knew Nex.
Nex was an Indigenous 16-year-old student living in Owasso, Oklahoma. At home, he told his family he was nonbinary and used they/them pronouns; at school, he also used he/him pronouns and told a former partner that he was trans.
He has been described as a whip-smart straight-A student, a talented artist who loved animals, especially his cat, Zeus. He had a supportive boyfriend who Nex helped come out to his parents. He loved playing Minecraft and liked to make up recipes in the kitchen. Friends called him “adventurous” and “fiery.”
After so much harassment, that fiery temperament may have led him to stand up for himself. Less than 24 hours later, Nex Benedict would be dead.
The reaction of the local and state government to his death — including confusing statements by the Owasso Police Department on the cause — has pushed both Nex and Oklahoma into the national conversation. The weeks since Benedict died have been a storm of rampant misinformation, frustrating non-answers from authorities, and distracting side discussions about the political extremists who have glommed onto the debate. The incident has also brought increased scrutiny of Benedict’s school district from the Department of Education, which announced on March 1 that it would be launching an investigation into whether the school violated Benedict’s nondiscrimination rights under Title IX.
It all amounts to a harrowing conversation about this era of aggressive anti-trans sentiment, and the real trans kids who are paying the cost.
Nex Benedict’s death…
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