Unless you’ve been living under a lichen-covered rock in the woods, you’ve probably heard by now of Nex Benedict, the indigenous transgender high-schooler in Owasso, Oklahoma, who died of a brain injury on February 8 of this year, shortly after being beaten up in a high school bathroom by three girls. Nex, who used he/him and they/their pronouns, shouldn’t have had to go in there at all, since that bathroom didn’t correspond to his actual gender. But since he was designated as female at birth, by Oklahoma law he wasn’t allowed to use any other facilities but the girls’ room.
And apparently, the school’s meanest girls took violent exception to that.
Even though the school district supposedly had an anti-bullying policy, Nex had been bullied ever since he came out as trans. And his tormentors always got away with it, because Oklahoma state law was on their side, and the legal situation is getting worse by the day. Oklahoma is the state with the largest number of anti-LGBT+ bills currently tabled. It’s not hard to imagine how a situation like that might embolden a bully, or a clique of them.
So, on February 7, three bitches jumped Nex in the bathroom. A scuffle ensued. Nex’s head hit the floor at some point during the assault, and he blacked out. Despite his obvious injuries, the school did not call an ambulance for Nex; his mother had to drive him to hospital herself. He was also able to give a statement to the police in the hours following the incident, but the head injury he sustained in the bathroom proved fatal the following day.
Nex Benedict was just 16.
Nex’s death has spawned protests, but so far, no criminal charges have been laid. The killers are still at large, apparently still in school, and still protected by the hateful environment the school district has deemed to be acceptable. The local police, too, don’t seem to think the matter is worth arresting anyone over. Nobody, it seems, is willing to hold anyone accountable for the death of Nex Benedict.
Nex might still be alive if LGBT+ acceptance had been an actual thing in Oklafuckinghoma, where some of the world’s most repugnant Republicans hold sway, and where failed Brooklyn realtor and highly successful fascist hatemonger Chaya Raichik, a.k.a. “Libs of TikTok”, was hired by the state not so long ago as some kind of advisor to their public library system.
Chaya Raichik is a professional stochastic terrorist, whose only real talent in life is to stir up murderous hate against anyone whom she deems to be a “groomer” of children, particularly if they’re teaching school or in any public setting where children might also be present. She lives for attention, and likes to turn a blast of raw sewage on anyone who is politically and socially progressive, or who dares to be honest and vulnerable about their LGBT+ life. Her shit-disturbing has even led to bomb threats at children’s hospitals. She’s uniquely unqualified to advise anyone on anything, let alone a state’s public libraries on what media its children should be allowed to peruse. Yet there she is, drawing a fat paycheque for doing nothing except what she’s been doing all along…i.e., stirring up hate and generally poisoning the atmosphere every time she farts out a tweet.
Well, one local man has had enough of her and the fascistic flunkies who hired her. He has taken a stand, and his confrontation with the elected officials (and by extension, their unelected “advisor”) is a thing of beauty to behold:
Ahhh. Isn’t that satisfying?
I don’t yet know what difference it’s going to make in the grand scheme of things, or to the Nex case in particular, but let’s hope that Sean’s speech here is the beginning of the end for anti-queer fascism in Oklahoma.
