#owasso

A 16 year old non-binary child was brutally beaten in their high school’s bathroom (which they were forced to use because of Oklahoma legislation requiring that trans students use the restrooms coinciding with the gender assigned to them at birth) by THREE girls for over two minutes before other students and a singular school faculty member managed to pull these girls off of them.

They had their head repeatedly smashed into the floor. For over two minutes. Their face was covered in cuts and bruises and they were unable to walk without assistance following this attack.

Nex was suspended for several days for engaging in a “fight”. (Btw 3 to 1 is NOT a fight, thats called getting jumped.)

After seeing the schools nurse, Nex was denied the option to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance as it was deemed “unnecessary” but it was suggested that a guardian took them to get checked out if they were concerned about Nex’s injuries.

Nex was then taken to the hospital where they were discharged, but were then rushed back to said hospital the next morning, where they were pronounced dead.

The Owasso Public School district has stated that because Nex died the following morning and not the night of the attack, that the attack is unrelated and did not cause the death of this child.

The Owasso Police Department claims that they cannot release the autopsy report to the public but that “A complete autopsy was performed and indicated that the decedent did not die as a result of trauma.” It has been implied that Nex died of natural causes or from an underlying medical condition. Less than 24 hours after having their head brutally and repeatedly smashed into a bathroom floor for over 2 minutes.

I don’t know about you guys, but I personally am beyond sick and fucking tired of watching republican politicians be so loud about how they’re “protecting children” and then turning their backs on trans kids and believing what is probably the laziest cover up of a non-binary child being brutally beaten to death while they were AT SCHOOL.

And what makes this even worse is that according to the Benedict family, Nex had been telling them about how they were being bullied at school and that they felt unsafe. They had told the school that they were being bullied and they felt unsafe. The school had been given every opportunity to neutralize the problem and prevent this very situation and chose to do nothing, and that negligence caused the death of a student. And they have the audacity to claim that Nex’s blood is not on their hands and that they “do not tollerate violence or bullying of any kind” and “are taking the situation very seriously”.

Nex Benedict was brutally beaten to death in a school bathroom and Oklahoma schools, law enforcement, and legislative officials are doing nothing about it.

Nex Benedict. Say their fucking name.

THERE WILL BE A HEAVY POLICE PRESENCE AT THE OWASSO VIGIL! PLEASE GO TO GUTHRIE GREEN INSTEAD!!!

Please stay safe!!!

EDIT: Now with image description embed. Thanks @fix-fax-fuckyou

“Nex did not see themselves as male or female,” Ms Benedict said. “Nex saw themselves right down the middle. I was still learning about it, Nex was teaching me that.”

This is a gut punch to read. I've seen "old folks" go through that journey of gaining understanding. Ideally it wouldn't need to be a whole journey but there's something loving in people willing to grow.

But not knowing just how at risk they might be ... from this kind of violence.

what could have been.

Nex was a really good student apparently. Had strait As. So a nerd. Another gut punch. They just remind me of more than one person I know and care deeply about.

These FUCKERS destroy everything beautiful.

Nex Benedict

A 16 year old Owasso student who died after being beaten in the head by three other students. They were nonbinary and a citizen of the Choctaw nation. They lived in the Cherokee reservation of Oklahoma. They had complained of bullying about their identity prior to being assaulted. Police are claiming their death was unrelated to the assault they experienced just a day prior.

Nex enjoyed nature, minecraft, drawing, and reading. They had a cat named Zeus.

I grew up near this region. I have identified as nonbinary since freshman year of high school. I'm a citizen of the Muskogee tribe. I was bullied in high school. My sister is much the same as me in most of this. I hate to think either of us could have been this poor child. They didn't deserve this. I can say from first-hand experience that the handling of bullying in Oklahoma schools is pretty much non-existent. This situation makes me so incredibly sad. This did not need to happen.

The school did and has done nothing. The teachers have done nothing. The police has done nothing. A kid died and the world stays silent. If Nex hadn't been indigenous or non-binary, then the whole country would have turned upside down.

Trans people deserve to live. Non-binary people deserve to live. Indigenous people deserve to live.

One of my close childhood friends is trans. He's also forced to go to the women's bathroom. Will he be the next victim? Who else will have to suffer for us to learn? When will justice be served?

The bullying had started in earnest at the beginning of the 2023 school year, a few months after Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill that required public school students to use bathrooms that matched the sex listed on their birth certificates.

A few weeks ago, on 7 February, the bullying allegedly erupted in violence when Nex suffered severe head injuries during a “physical altercation” at Owasso High School, according to the Owasso Police Department.

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 with scratches on the back of their head.

Nex told her that they and another transgender student at Owasso High School had been in a fight with three older girls in a girls bathroom. Nex was knocked to the ground during the fight and hit their head on the floor, according to their mother.

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.

Because of my anxiety I avoid media involving specific topics, especially when it comes to school violence. Not because I don't care, but because I care too much. & I am active in my community & help where I can, I don't have to watch the news to do that.

But Nex Benedict's murder is deeply affecting me. It's not fair. You raise your babies the best you can. You send them to school to get an education to make them the best they can be. & they're supposed to be safe there. & they're not. It's literally nightmare fuel, which is why I avoid the news as much as I can.

& it doesn't help when your own children are Indigenous, Hispanic, gay & female. & you hear stories like this & you just feel like you're internally bleeding for a child you have never met.

& you can deeply feel for their parents & family. Because though it hasn't happened to you & yours - you live with that fear everyday. You live with it for so long & the fear is so palpable, it feels like it could be real at any moment.

Every phone call from the school, every text from one of your children - it's no longer the age of, "What did they do wrong? What assignment are they missing?" No. It's now firstly & foremost, "Oh my God, what's happening?"

& I am so horrified & saddened that Nex's family has to live with, "Oh my God, what's happening?"

So today I am wearing my "Let Me Be Perfectly Queer" overshirt & my "Free Mom Hugs" pin in remembrance of Nex. But also as a very public "Fuck You" to those who keep allowing these types of tragedies to happen.