Sixteen-year-old Nex Benedict (they/them) died one day after a “physical altercation” in a high school bathroom where three older girls reportedly beat Nex’s head “across the floor.” According to Nex’s mother, Sue Benedict, the nonbinary teenager was the target of bullying simply for being who they were. The bullying apparently erupted into full-blown violence on February 7 when Nex suffered severe head injuries during what the Owasso Police Department described as a “physical altercation” at Owasso High School. https://twitter.com/TheAdvocateMag/status/1760439558607438162 Local NBC News affiliate 2 News reportedly received a tip from a woman claiming to be the mother of Nex’s best friend. She said that “three older girls were beating on the victim and her daughter in the girls’ bathroom.” She also said that one of the girls involved in the incident was “repeatedly beating [Nex’s] head across the floor.” A family member shared text messages from Nex written shortly after the incident with Fox 23 News. “I got jumped at school. 3 on 1, had to go to the ER,” Nex said in the message. Nex added that the girls involved in the fight “had been bullying me and my friends and I got tired of it so I poured some water on them and all 3 came after me.” Sue Benedict told The Independent she was called to the school that day to find Nex badly beaten with bruises over their face and eyes and scratches on the back of their head. https://twitter.com/Independent/status/1760109936691085464 More from The Independent:
Ms Benedict said she was furious that the school had failed to call an ambulance or the police. She said the school then informed her Nex was being suspended for two weeks.
She took Nex to the Bailey Medical Center in Owasso for treatment. They spoke to a police school resource officer at the medical facility and were discharged.
That night, Nex went to bed with a sore head and eventually fell asleep while listening to music, Ms Benedict said.
On 8 February, Nex was getting ready to go to Tulsa with Ms Benedict for an appointment when they collapsed in the family living room.
Ms Benedict called an ambulance, and EMT officers arrived to find Nex had stopped breathing. Nex was declared dead that evening in the hospital.
Even with reports that one of the assailants had beaten Nex’s head on the floor of the bathroom, Owasso Police Department issued an updated statement today saying, “A complete autopsy was performed and indicated that the decedent did not die as a result of trauma.” https://twitter.com/newrepublic/status/1760361264268595550 Nex was born on January 11, 2008, in El Paso, Texas. They grew up in Owasso, Oklahoma. Nex was a sophomore at Owasso High School. According to family, Nex identified as nonbinary and used they/them pronouns. According to an online obituary (which misgenders Nex and uses their dead name), Nex loved nature and especially their cat, Zeus. Nex also enjoyed watching the Walking Dead, drawing, reading, cooking, and playing Ark and Minecraft. A GoFundMe campaign was updated on Tuesday with a statement from Nex’s mother apologizing for failing to initially use their chosen name. “We are sorry for not using their name correctly and as parents we were still learning the correct forms. Please do not judge us as Nex was judged, please do not bully us for our ignorance on the subject,” she wrote. “Nex gave us that respect and we are sorry in our grief that we overlooked them.” Ms. Benedict added that Nex’s headstone will reflect their chosen name, and the rest of the donations will go to “other children dealing with the right to be who they are, in Nex Benedict’s name.” https://twitter.com/KelleyJRobinson/status/1760119116583535096 The Movement Advancement Project reports that Oklahoma is among the worst states nationwide for targeting LGBTQ youth and failing to protect LGBTQ youth. There is no statewide hate crimes protection, no nondiscrimination policies to protect LGBTQ youth, or policy to protect them from bullying. State law restricts discussing LGBTQ people in schools, bans essential mainstream health care for transgender youth, bans access to school sports aligned with gender identity, and bans use of school restrooms and facilities consistent with gender identity. X user TizzyEnt shares more of the details and explains how Oklahoma has become an extremely difficult place for LGBTQ people thanks in part to the virulently anti-LGBTQ online troll Chaya Raichick, the woman behind “Libs of TikTok” and State Superintendent Ryan Walters. https://twitter.com/TizzyEnt/status/1760421094475829681 https://twitter.com/RepMarkPocan/status/1760419731499028955
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