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 next month. There was a battle in the female ‘ bath. The freshman was taken to a hospital where he had 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 day. The girl stopped breathing at home the following evening and passed away suddenly in a hospital in the Tulsa-area shortly afterward. – Aand 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 survivors who were killed in vastly different conditions but whose deaths sparked social justice movements. The demise of Benedict has already become a gathering weep for LGBTQ rights.
And there is an obvious fact that stands out in Benedict’s living: Gay youth in America, especially those who identify as trans and nonbinary, experience abuse, mental health problems, and dying at an alarmingly high price than other groups.
Nearly every aspect of a trans person’s life is affected by the rise in anti-trans state laws, from the bathrooms to the sports they can play to the access to healthcare. And society’s behaviour towards trans and non binary, research shows, has a direct impact on those damning mental 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 accepting adult in a young LGBTQ+ person’s life significantly lowers their risk of suicide. Whether a teacher, caregiver, neighbour or friend—supporting young people living in their truth is an affirming and life- saving act of allyship”.
Nearly one in five transgender and nonbinary youth actually attempted suicide, according to a comprehensive 2022 report from the Trevor Project, which revealed a staggering 44 % of LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide in the previous year.
When young people felt support and acceptance from the community, attempt rates dropped – from 20 per cent and 21 per cent for those who found their home and school environments, respectively, to be non- gender- affirming spaces, falling to 13 percent and 18 percent amongst young people with better support.
The report emphasized” the obvious need to break down barriers to care and promote acceptance at the local level to help save young LGBTQ lives,” 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 since before Benedict’s tragic passing. The state has been particularly aggressive with restricting and directly denying LGBTQ 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 child gender-affirming medical care.
School became a battleground for trans students.
According to McAfee, “schools initially turned hostile when they prohibited students from playing sports if they were n’t on a team based on the sex they were born with, and now require annual gender contracts to confirm that their sex is assigned at birth.”
Nearly 58 per cent of 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.
” Single sex bathroom restrictions moved through in a bill at the last minute and caused a lot of students who had had affirming bathroom policies at school to find themselves out in situations where they were outgoing themselves to their classmates, outgoing themselves to adults in the school who were potentially unsafe, and/or trying to access single sex facilities that are frequently really limited on campuses.”
Ryan Walters, the Republican superintendent of public schools in Oklahoma, made the contentious appointment of Chaya Raichik, the head of the state’s library advisory committee. She runs the anti-trans Libs of TikTok account, which had previously led to the resignation of a teacher in Benedict’s own district after he was secretly filmed telling students to be true to themselves with or without their parents ‘ support.
Al Stone- Gebhardt, a transgender man who graduated from a nearby school district to Owasso last year, claimed he had noticed an increase in discrimination and anti-transbullying as state lawmakers began to pass laws aimed at trans youths.
” I absolutely believed that the trans community was experiencing more tension and vulnerability than the general public,” he said. ” It got pretty bad”.
McAfee also cited Walters ‘ implementation of administrative rules that forbade forced outings, so any educator or school employee who learns a student is queer or trans and uses pronouns other than what they think are should do so.
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
One of the few legislatures in the country with no public testimony on record in Oklahoma is that we are one of the few ones.
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, activists and Benedict’s family claim that the teen’s death was caused by hostile attitudes toward the teen’s gender identity when they are released later this month.
According to McAfee,” We failed Nex in allowing for policies and rhetoric that consistently made a child just trying to live as his authentic self,” Freedom Oklahoma” said from the beginning that whether he died as a result of the physical or emotional harm he was a result of, our elected officials, our appointed State Board of Education, Owasso High School, and all of us failed him.”
Even the President has veered into the tragedy, calling transgender and non-binary people” 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. Reports of bullying must be taken seriously by parents and schools.
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 2023 study in Psychiatry Research, 44 % of transgender adults reported recent suicidal thoughts, 7 % of them reported recent suicide attempts, and 21 % of them reported recent 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 jo@samaritans .org, 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. to locate a helpline near you.
