The boy’s death, from the outset, has been as confounding as it has been heart-terrible.
Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old from Oklahoma, went to school on an ordinary day last quarter. There was a battle in the female’s bath. The junior was taken to a hospital where he was seen with apparent injuries and told his family and authorities about the alleged abuse that led to the altercation.
Benedict informed a friend that they both had a sore nose that night. The girl stopped breathing at home the following afternoon and tragically passed away in a hospital in the Tulsa region just hours after. – And next this year, the local medical examiner ruled Benedict’s suicide a murder.
Later this month, a more in-depth document will be made available. The high school student’s experience is almost as recognized as that of Matthew Shepard or Breonna Taylor, two victims who were killed under entirely distinct conditions but whose deaths sparked cultural justice movements. Benedict’s passing has already become a gathering cry for LGBTQ rights.
And there is an obvious fact that stands out in stark contrast to the rage and inquiries from all factors regarding Benedict’s living: LGBTQ youth in America, especially those who identify as trans and intersex, experience abuse, mental health problems, and death at an alarmingly high rate than other organizations.
Nex Benedict, 16, died last month after suffering injuries in a great school restroom fight one day earlier, the child’s death has been ruled a death by the local medical examiner
Nearly every aspect of a transgender woman’s life is affected by the rise in anti-trans state laws, from the bathrooms to the athletics they can perform to the access to healthcare. And society’s attitude towards transgender and non-linear, research displays, has a direct effect on those damning cognitive health outcomes.
“Nex’s death is a tragic reminder that we all have a role to play in reducing and eventually eradicating LGBTQ+ youth suicide,” Peggy Rajski, founder and interim CEO of The Trevor Project, told The Independent in a statement. The Trevor Project’s research indicates that having at least one willing adult in a young LGBTQ+ person’s life drastically lowers their risk of suicide. Whether a tutor, caregiver, stranger, or friend—supporting younger people living in their wisdom is an accepting and life-saving act of allyship”.
A shocking 44% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide in the previous year, according to a comprehensive 2022 report from the Trevor Project, and nearly one in five transgender and nonbinary youth actually attempted to do so.
When younger people felt aid and approval from the community, attempt rates dropped – from 20 percent and 21 percent for those who found their home and school environments, both, to become non-female-affirming spaces, falling to 13 percent and 18 percent amongst younger people with better support.
The report emphasized “the obvious need to break down barriers to care and market understanding at the regional level to help save fresh LGBTQ life,” according to Myeshia Price, a senior research scientist for the 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health.
Local Oklahoma activists have been driving the same message home ever since Benedict’s tragic passing. The state has been particularly aggressive with restricting and outright racial rights. Last year, the Republican governor of Oklahoma signed an executive order designating an individual’s sex as the “biological sex” at birth, setting the tone for Oklahoma lawmakers from the top down.
“We’ve really seen trans young people, especially, targeted in their day-to-day life – and schools change,” Nicole McAfee, executive director of activist group Freedom Oklahoma, tells The Independent. Gov. In 2022, Kevin Stitt signed a transgender sports ban, and the state’s Republican-led legislature passed several new laws aimed at the community, including ones that prohibit using nonbinary gender markers on birth certificates and prohibiting children from receiving gender-affirming medical care, according to AP.
Since Benedict’s death on February 8th, 2018, memorials and vigils have been held throughout Oklahoma and further afield.
School became a battleground for trans students.
According to McAfee, “Schools initially became hostile when they prohibited students from playing sports if they weren’t on a team based on their sex status at birth, and now require annual gender contracts to confirm people’s sex status at birth,” “schools initially became hostile.”
Nearly 58 percent of LGBT+ youth in Oklahoma felt unsafe at school, according to a 2022 survey from the Human Rights Campaign. In contrast to two-thirds of trans youth in other states, the survey found that less than half of trans and gender nonconforming students in Oklahoma believe teachers and staff care about them.
A number of students who had affirming bathroom policies at school “went into situations where they were outing themselves to their classmates, outing themselves to potentially unsafe adults in the school, and/or trying to access single-sex facilities that are frequently really limited on campuses,” according to a bill that was passed at the last minute.
Ryan Walters, the Republican superintendent of public schools in Oklahoma, made the contentious appointment of Chaya Raichik, the head of the state’s anti-trans Libs of TikTok account, which had previously caused a teacher in Benedict’s own district to resign after being secretly filmed telling students to be true to themselves with or without their parents’ support.
As state lawmakers began introducing bills aimed at trans youths, Al Stone-Gebhardt, a transgender man who graduated from a nearby school district to Owasso last year, reported to The Associated Press that he had noticed a rise in anti-trans bullying and discrimination.
“I absolutely believed that the trans community was experiencing more tension and vulnerability than the general public,” he said. “It got pretty bad”.
The death of Nex Benedict and their cat Zeus is mourned by both family and countless others around the world, shining a spotlight on anti-trans laws in Oklahoma.
McAfee also cited Walters’ implementation of administrative rules last year that required forced outings for educators and school personnel who learn that a student uses pronouns other than those they believe are appropriate for use.
Should that student immediately inform their family members whether or not those family members are safe, is it “correct” for them to do so?
She states that “one of the reasons that we see such egregious curtailing of a race in is the lack of one.”
Oklahoma is one of the few legislatures in the nation where there isn’t any public testimony on the record.
That means that voters are not allowed to speak up in front of politicians during the legislative process and to expose how these laws affect people’s lives.
“So as legislators are passing these bills, they have insulated themselves from having to hear from the people they are targeting, from having to hear about the harm they’re causing,” McAfee said, adding that “they can pass these things without having to frequently engage with the reality of what they’re doing.”
Despite the final autopsy findings being released later this month, activists and Benedict’s family claim that the teen’s death was caused by the hostile attitudes toward the teen’s gender identity.
According to Freedom Oklahoma, “we failed Nex by allowing for policies and rhetoric that consistently made a kid just trying to live as his authentic self,” McAfee said on Wednesday in a statement following the autopsy findings. Whether or not he died as a result of the physical or emotional harm he was subjected to, our elected officials, our appointed State Board of Education, Owasso High School, and all of us failed him.
Even the president has entered the tragedy, citing transgender and non-binary people as “some of the bravest Americans I know.”
“But nobody should have to be brave just to be themselves,” President Joe Biden said Thursday. “In honor of Nex, we must all reaffirm our commitment to fighting against discrimination and ending the suicide crisis that affects too many transgender and nonbinary children. Nobody should be subject to the bullying Nex did because it is cruel and hurtful. Parents and educational institutions must take reports of bullying seriously.
Tragically, however, further research shows that a lack of societal acceptance continues to plague members of the community as they age, further eroding mental health. In accordance with a study conducted in Psychiatry Research in 2023, 44% of transgender adults reported recent suicidal thoughts, 7% of suicide attempts, and 21% of non-suicidal self-injury.
“The rates of suicidal ideation and self-injury among transgender people are alarming—particularly for transgender nonbinary adults,” study co-author Ilan H. Meyer, distinguished senior scholar of public policy at UCLA’s Williams Institute, said following its publication.
The stigma and prejudice against transgender people and the rise in politically motivated attacks against them, among others, contribute to the high rates of substance use and suicidality we see among transgender people.
And that harrowing reality has now left a transgender child dead.
If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email [email protected], or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Everyone can dial this free, confidential crisis hotline, which is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to locate a helpline near you.
