Nonbinary teen Nex Benedict died after being violently attacked in their school bathroom.
via: Advocate
Benedict, a sophomore at Owasso High School, was brutally beaten by other students earlier this month and died the following day. The incident has drawn national attention, with many attributing the violent act to a culture of transphobia they say is being stoked by state officials.
The assault on Benedict, 16, happened on February 7, when three older girls attacked them in the girls’ bathroom, Tulsa NBC affiliate KJRH reports. A teacher intervened to stop the fight. Staff didn’t call an ambulance, the outlet noted.
Benedict’s grandmother, who was their guardian, took the teenager to the hospital that day. They went back the next day after Benedict became ill. Benedict died that evening.
The grandmother, Sue Benedict, told The Independent that her child had been the subject of months of intensifying bullying that began earlier in 2023 after Oklahoma’s Republican-led government barred transgender students from using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
“I didn’t know how bad it had gotten,” she told the outlet.
Benedict told their grandmother that they and another trans student had fought the other students in the bathroom, according to TheIndependent. The teen told her they’d hit their head on the floor.
Sue Benedict said she was told by the school that her grandchild had received a two-week suspension after the assault. She said she was enraged that medical services weren’t called even though Nex had bruises on their face.
“I was very open with my children to be who and what they thought was best,” Sue Benedict told the outlet.“They could talk to me about anything, as long as that respect goes both ways. A child needs to figure out who they are and what they want to be, and you cannot force it upon them.”
“Nex did not see themselves as male or female,” Sue Benedict said. “Nex saw themselves right down the middle. I was still learning about it, Nex was teaching me that.”
