Mocobizscene – More than a dozen students walked out of class Monday at an Oklahoma high school after a 16-year-old nonbinary student was beaten inside a lavatory earlier this month and died the next day.
Students and LGBTQ+ advocates gathered at a crossroads across from Owasso High School, holding placards that said “You Are Loved” and “Protect Queer Kids.”.
Following the death of Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old student who identified as nonbinary and used they/them pronouns, the students are demanding action against discrimination and bullying of transgender and gender nonconforming students. Benedict, who died the day after fighting with three girls in a high school lavatory, had been bullied at school, according to his family.
“Students and families are out in force today demanding the basics: safety from bullying and violence,” the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD stated in a statement. “It is appalling and shameful that Nex Benedict endured a year of anti-LGBTQ harassment, then a brutal beating in the school bathroom.”
Although the state medical examiner’s office has not released the cause or manner of Benedict’s death, a police spokesperson has stated that preliminary findings indicate that the death was not due to injuries sustained during the struggle. Police are investigating the teen’s death and will report their findings to the district attorney’s office to determine whether criminal charges should be made.
Following Benedict’s death, vigils throughout Oklahoma and across the country were organized in his honor.
