The death of a 16-year-old non-binary student after a fight in an Oklahoma high school girls’ bathroom has drawn national attention and outrage from gay and transgender rights groups who say the student was bullied because of their gender identity.
Nex Benedict, who often used the pronouns they and them and told relatives he didn’t think of himself as strictly male or female, died in early February, a day after fighting with three girls at Owasso High School. The details of what happened and what exactly caused Nex’s death were unclear, but in a police interview video released on February 24, Nex said they were “blacked out” while being beaten on the bathroom floor.
Police said the case is still under investigation.
Nex’s death and the circumstances surrounding it have put school officials and law enforcement under scrutiny. There has been an outpouring of grief across the country, particularly from the LGBTQ community, and a new focus on spreading policies that limit gay and transgender rights.
Here’s what we know so far:
What happened before Nex died?
The fight took place on February 7. The Owasso Police Department said in a statement on Feb. 20 that no police report was filed about the fight until after Nex was taken to a hospital by relatives later that day.
At that point, a school resource officer went to the hospital, police said. Nex was discharged and went home, but was rushed to the hospital by medics the next day and died there, police said.
On February 24, police released a video of Nex’s interview at the hospital the day of the fight, which provided the most complete account of what happened.
Nex said in the interview that three girls had hit them after Nex had thrown water on the girls for laughing at them and their friend. Nex said the girls had previously made fun of Nex and their friends “because of the way we dress.”
“We were laughing,” Nex said. “And they had said something like, ‘Why are they laughing like that?’ They were talking about us in front of us.”
“Then all three of them came at me,” Nex added. At one point, Nex hit their head on the bathroom floor, according to Sue Benedict, their grandmother and guardian.
Nex went to the hospital and came home that day. The next day, Nex collapsed at home and was rushed back to hospital, where they were pronounced dead, Ms Benedict said.
Officials also released surveillance video from the school the day of the fight, which shows students, including Nex, going into the bathroom and, separately, Nex walking the halls with a staff member after the fight.
Several details, including Nex’s exact cause of death, remain unknown.
Among the key questions that remain unanswered is how exactly Nex died.
On February 21, police said preliminary autopsy results determined Nex “did not die as a result of blunt force trauma.” The state medical examiner has yet to release his report on the autopsy and toxicology results.
It is also unclear if Nex was beaten because of their gender identity. Advocates for non-binary and transgender students have said Oklahoma’s gender policies have led to more reports of confrontations in schools.
And questions remain about why school officials didn’t contact police or other officials after the fight.
In a statement on Feb. 20, the Owasso school district said there had been “speculation and misinformation” about the circumstances surrounding the altercation, which lasted less than two minutes before he was separated from other students, “along with a staff member.” The school said all the students involved “walked under their own power to the assistant principal’s office and the nurse’s office.”
Oklahoma has several laws that limit transgender rights.
The incident has renewed scrutiny of anti-trans laws in Oklahoma.
The state has several laws that limit transgender rights, including one that prohibits students from using bathrooms that do not align with their gender at birth. Another law expressly prohibits gender-neutral markers on birth certificates. Oklahoma also prohibits minors from receiving gender transition care.
This year, the state legislature is considering a bill that would bar residents from changing their gender designation on birth certificates and another that would require public schools to recognize that gender is an “immutable biological characteristic” and prohibit people to use names or pronouns that differ from their birth certificates.
The laws are part of a nationwide push by conservatives to curtail gay and transgender rights. Statehouses across the country have been engulfed in arguments over the laws governing them, with at least 23 states having passed bans on caring for gender transition minors.
The state’s governor defended his stance on gender, while LGBTQ advocates accused him of creating a “hostile environment.”
Oklahoma Public Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters has been consistent in his anti-trans rhetoric since taking the role in 2022. Mr. Walters remained steadfast in his stance following the incident and in his first interview since Nex’s death , told the Times that she doesn’t believe non-binary or trans people exist.
“You always treat people with dignity or respect because they are made in the image of God,” Mr Walters said. “But that doesn’t change the truth.”
Meanwhile, LGBTQ rights advocates reacted with anger and fear over Nex’s death, saying such restrictive gender policies were harmful.
“Ryan Walters has created a devastatingly hostile environment for transgender students, two-spirited and gender nonconforming,” said Nicole McAfee, the executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, a transgender and gay rights group.
Transgender students said their classmates have seen rhetoric from officials like Mr. Walters as a license to harass and bully them.
“There’s a lot of feelings of helplessness,” said Hallie, a transgender high school girl, who asked that her last name not be used out of concern that she might be targeted by anti-trans activists. “You always have that little fear that you might be attacked, that you might be one of the victims.”
J. David Goodman and Edgar Sandoval contributed to the report.
