What happened to Nex Benedict?
Questions still remain unanswered in the death of the non-binary teen in Oklahoma a day after a fight in a school bathroom. Could Nex’s death have been prevented?
What exactly happened to 16-year old student Nex Benedict and could the non-binary teen’s death have been prevented?
The Department of Education is investigating whether an Oklahoma school district failed to appropriately respond to sex-based harassment, after the Human Rights Campaign filed a complaint.
Here’s what we know so far:
Nex Benedict died February 8th, one day after they were involved in a fight in a bathroom at a high school in Owasso, Oklahoma - a state that requires students to use bathrooms of their gender assigned at birth.
In police body cam video taken from a hospital the day of the incident, Nex says they threw water at the three girls who were making fun of Nex and had previously bullied them in the past for how they dress.
“They came at me, they grabbed at my hair, I grabbed onto them", Nex describes in the footage. “I threw one of them into a paper towel dispenser. Then they got my legs out from in front of me, got me on the ground, and started beating the shit out of me and then my friends jumped in to help. I’m not sure, I blacked out.”
The following day Nex collapsed and died. The cause of death hasn’t been determined yet, but early autopsy results said Nex did not die as a result of trauma.
Nex’s parents say the bullying started after the anti trans bathroom law was passed.
Even a month after their death, vigils for Nex Benedict continue to occur across the country. What do you think should be done to make LGBTQ students feel safe?