Dozens of scholars at Owasso Excessive College in Oklahoma walked out on Monday within the wake of the loss of life of Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old who died on Feb. 8, in the future after being crushed in a college restroom. The scholars mentioned they have been protesting a tradition of bullying and an absence of response by faculty officers.
Police launched footage final week displaying an interview with Benedict, who describes how three ladies “jumped” them after they threw water at them. When the officer requested Nex why they’d been getting bullied, Benedict mentioned it was “due to the way in which that we gown.”
At a vigil for the sophomore this weekend, a number of of Benedict’s buddies informed NBC Information’ Jo Yurcaba that Benedict was transgender. They mentioned that Benedict used he/him pronouns in school but additionally used they/them pronouns.
LGBTQ+ and different college students on the walkout on Monday informed NBC Information that they really feel as if the varsity doesn’t adequately reply to bullying. Even when college students report bullying, they mentioned, nothing appears to alter.
“There’s been bullying points. This time, the bullying has gone thus far {that a} pupil handed,” a pupil organizer named Kane informed NBC Information. “To me, it doesn’t matter if Nex handed from a traumatic mind harm or in the event that they handed from suicide. What issues is the truth that they died after getting bullied, and that’s the story for therefore many different college students. I’ve been near ending it myself due to bullying. It’s not new for therefore many college students.”
The Owasso Police Division launched a preliminary assertion on Fb final week, noting that after an post-mortem was carried out, the health worker’s workplace decided that Benedict “didn’t die on account of trauma. The reason for Benedict’s loss of life remains to be pending till the toxicology examination and official post-mortem repeat are launched, which is able to inform police whether or not to arrest or cost people concerned.”
Benedict’s household has questioned this conclusion and informed The Impartial that they’re conducting a separate investigation into the reason for their youngster’s loss of life.
Alumni of Owasso Excessive College say the varsity has had an issue with bullying, significantly of LGBTQ+ college students, for greater than a decade.
Remy, a 26-year-old pharmacy technician who makes use of they/them and he/him pronouns, mentioned their time at Owasso Excessive was the worst 4 years of their life. Remy, who now lives in Colorado, graduated in 2016 and mentioned they skilled bullying from college students and academics due to the way in which they appeared and dressed.
Remy mentioned a trainer as soon as joked in entrance of the entire class that they have been going to be “tied up like a pioneer lady and thrown behind the wagon.”
They mentioned they introduced up the occasion with the principal and nothing occurred.
Brock Crawford, a spokesperson for Owasso Public Colleges, launched a press release to HuffPost when requested in regards to the tradition of bullying as described by present and former college students.
“As a district, the security and safety of our college students is our high precedence and we’re dedicated to fostering a secure and inclusive surroundings for everybody. Bullying in any type is unacceptable. We take stories of bullying very significantly and have insurance policies and procedures to handle such habits,” the assertion says.
The varsity encourages individuals who witness or expertise bullying to report it to a mum or dad, trainer or faculty administrator, or to submit it anonymously on the district’s Bullying Prevention web site.
Although Remy was not out as trans in highschool, they mentioned buddies who did come out have been afraid of what may occur to them and have been taunted and mocked by fellow classmates.
“I felt like I used to be largely simply residing in concern as a result of I didn’t actually fairly know what I recognized as or who I used to be,” Remy remembered. “I felt like I couldn’t even faucet into what I used to be feeling as a result of I used to be so scared about what may occur to me.”
Final week, a video circulated of a current transgender graduate of Owasso talking about their experiences being bullied and assaulted by college students and academics.
“The administration has by no means cared about its LGBTQ+ college students,” the 19-year-old mentioned within the video. “The homicide of Nex is the direct product of their design.”
Benedict’s loss of life has set off waves of grief and concern throughout the nation, Many communities held vigils to mourn Benedict’s loss of life and protest the bullying and harassment that LGBTQ+ college students face in colleges.
J Pat Carter by way of Getty Photos
Final week, the Human Rights Marketing campaign requested the Division of Justice and the Division of Schooling to research the reason for Benedict’s loss of life. There have been comparable calls from state officers.
“We imagine that Nex’s loss of life is the pure consequence of a rising wave of hatred in opposition to LGBTQ+ individuals,” learn the Human Proper Marketing campaign’s letter to Lawyer Normal Merrick Garland.
“Their loss of life is a gut-wrenching tragedy that exposes the chilling actuality of anti-transgender hatred spreading throughout the US, and should be investigated by the Division as a possible hate crime,” the letter mentioned.
Oklahoma’s hate crime statute doesn’t embody sexuality, gender or gender id as protected lessons, so crimes in opposition to LGBTQ+ individuals due to their id are more durable to prosecute.
The Oklahoma Legislature is contemplating a slew of anti-LGBTQ measures, which might additional limit entry to gender-affirming care, drive academics to misgender and deadname college students, and proceed to restrict what little Oklahoma college students can study gender and sexuality within the classroom.
The Sooner State has lengthy been a testing floor for a number of the extra excessive anti-LGBTQ+ payments and insurance policies because the state aligns itself an increasing number of with conservative Christian crusades. Final week, a Republican state senator referred to as LGBTQ+ individuals “filth” after being requested a query in regards to the Oklahoma’s anti-LGBTQ+ tradition and Benedict’s loss of life.
The Republican state superintendent, Ryan Walters, has a monitor file of concentrating on LGBTQ+ academics and college students and final yr created a rule to dam trans college students from updating faculty information with their appropriate gender markers.
In January he appointed Chaya Raichik, the Los Angeles-based right-wing activist behind the inflammatory X account Libs of TikTok, to the library media advisory committee on the state Division of Schooling. NBC recognized 33 situations when individuals or establishments that have been focused by the Libs of TikTok later acquired bomb threats or other forms of harassment.
Final week, in a gathering of the Oklahoma State Board of Schooling, Walters briefly acknowledged Benedict’s loss of life as “a heartbreaking tragedy.” He then moved on to talk about the struggle a native faculty district is placing up in opposition to his division to problem its authority to take away books they see as having sexual content material.
“We’re by no means going to again all the way down to these pressures. We’re going to proceed to ensure our children are receiving an excellent training, and the kind of supplies that we’ve seen are extremely graphic and pornographic and shouldn’t be within the arms of youngsters,” he mentioned.
