OKLAHOMA CITY — The death of a 16-year-old non-binary high school student in Oklahoma, whose family says he was bullied, has renewed scrutiny of anti-trans policies and political rhetoric surrounding gender identity.
Nex Benedict identified as non-binary and used they/their pronouns depending on their family. Benedict died on February 8, a day after an argument in the girls’ bathroom at Owasso High School. Police in suburban Tulsa have not released a cause of death but said this week that the teen did not die as a result of injuries sustained in the struggle.
A vigil for the teen was planned for Sunday in Owasso.
Here are some things to know about Benedict’s death and the investigation:
Benedict was able to walk out of the bathroom after the Feb. 7 fight, but was taken to a hospital by their family and sent home that evening. The next day, paramedics were sent to the home for a medical emergency and took Benedict to a hospital emergency room, where they later died, police said.
Nex Benedict’s mother, Sue Benedict, told The Independent that the teenager suffered bruises all over his face and eyes during the altercation involving a transgender student and three older girls.
The school district has said the students were in the restroom for less than two minutes before the fight was broken up by other students and a staff member.
Police and school officials have not said what sparked the altercation. In a statement, the family said they have launched their own independent investigation into what happened.
In the days since news of Benedict’s death became public, calls from Oklahoma to a national crisis hotline for LGBTQ+ youth have increased more than 500%, said Lance Preston, the founder and director of the Indiana-based Rainbow Youth Project USA, a group that aims to improve the safety and well-being of LGBTQ+ youth.
The group’s mental health crisis hotline typically receives an average of 87 calls per week from Oklahoma, a number that increased to 474 calls through Thursday, Preston said.
“Unfortunately, this incident has not only scared these young people in Oklahoma, but we are seeing children from all over the country,” Preston said. “Some kind of storm has really arisen.”
Of the calls from Oklahoma, Preston said 85% of people reported being bullied at school or on social media and nearly 80% feared physical abuse. Nearly three dozen people who called the hotline identified themselves as Owasso High School students and more than a dozen identified themselves as parents of students at the school.
While bullying at school is not uncommon, experts say the problem is especially acute for students who identify as non-binary or transgender, and especially for those who are transitioning.
Al Stone-Gebhardt, a transgender man who graduated last year from the Tulsa Union Public Schools, less than 15 miles from Owasso, said he noticed an increase in anti-trans bullying and discrimination when state lawmakers began introducing bills targeting transgender people . young people.
“I definitely felt like there was more tension and vulnerability in Oklahoma for transgender people to go to school,” he said. “It got pretty bad.”
Owasso Public Schools said in a statement this week that district officials are committed to student safety and ensuring an inclusive environment for all students.
“We recognize the impact this event has had on the entire school community and our priority is to create an environment where everyone feels heard, supported and safe,” the statement said.
District spokesperson Jordan Korphage says the high school also has a student-run Equality Club that meets weekly and supports equality among all people, races, sexual orientations and religions.
Oklahoma’s Republican-led Legislature has passed several new laws in recent years that target transgender and nonbinary people, including bills that would ban children from receiving gender-affirming medical care and ban the use of nonbinary gender markers on birth certificates.
Gov. Kevin Stitt has also signed bills banning transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams and banning transgender children from using school bathrooms that match their gender identity.
Among the many anti-trans bills being considered in Oklahoma this year are measures to ban gender-affirming adult care, prohibiting school staff from using a student’s preferred pronouns if they do not correspond to the sex assigned at birth, and state laws to ban. or executive orders recognizing any gender except male and female.
Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Schools, Ryan Walters, has also embraced anti-trans policies and faced a bipartisan backlash after appointing a right-wing social media influencer from New York known for posting anti-trans rhetoric to a panel of the state library. One of Chaya Raichik’s posts on her Libs of TikTok account on
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Al Stone-Gebhardt’s name.