Katie Godowski/AP
On Friday, the US Department of Education announced an investigation into an Oklahoma school district for allegedly failing to respond to reports of sex-based harassment after the death of Nex Benedict, a trans teen who died the day after an altercation with three girls inside a high school bathroom. The DOE dropped the news in a letter addressed to the Human Rights Campaign, which filed a formal complaint asking the agency to look into the district last month.
“We need [the DOE] to act urgently so there can be justice for Nex, and so that all students at Owasso High School and every school in Oklahoma can be safe from bullying, harassment, and discrimination,” aid HRC president, Kelley Robinson, in a statement.
On February 7, Benedict reportedly got into an altercation with three freshman girls, who according to Benedict “beat the hell” out of him inside of a bathroom at Owasso High School. Under a state law enacted in 2022, students are required to use the restrooms corresponding with their biological sex as opposed to gender identity. According to his grandmother and legal guardian, Benedict, who used he/they pronouns, was bullied by other students over the past year for being transgender.
“I said ‘you’ve got to be strong and look the other way, because these people don’t know who you are’,” Sue Benedict told The Independent. “I didn’t know how bad it had gotten.” On February 8, Benedict was declared dead at the Francis Pediatric Emergency Room, where he was taken after suddenly collapsing in the family’s living room. The exact cause of death is still under investigation.
The 16-year-old’s death has shone a national spotlight on the ongoing struggles faced by trans teens face under anti-trans policies and legislation, with many Oklahoma politicians doubling down on their transphobic policies. As my colleague Henry Carnell, wrote on Friday:
In 2023, in addition to the bathroom ban, the Oklahoma legislature stopped trans kids from playing on sports teams that align with their gender and banned gender-affirming care for minors. The Oklahoma education department appointed far-right TikToker Chaya Raichik—of “Libs of TikTok”—to sit on the statewide library advisory board. Raichick promotes the “eradication of transgenderism.”
Many of these same politicians have used Benedict’s death as an opportunity to double down on their anti-trans rhetoric. During a public forum last week, state Sen. Tom Woods (R) said, “I represent a constituency that doesn’t want that filth in Oklahoma. We are going to fight to keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma, because we’re a Christian state.” When pressed on if he was referring to the LGBTQ community when he said “filth” he said “no comment.”T
While the DOE’s investigation is focused squarely on the school district, these statements from Oklahoma’s lawmakers and governmental officials show that they had a hand in crafting the transphobic environment trans kids in Oklahoma are struggling to survive in.
