A 16-year-old student from a small town outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma, died after what police say was a “physical altercation” in a high school bathroom, and students accused of being attacked because of their gender, gay or trans. It drew outrage from gender rights groups. Identity.
Nex Benedict, a student who often used the pronouns they and they, told relatives that she did not consider herself strictly male or female. Under an Oklahoma law passed in 2022, students must use the restroom that corresponds to their birth gender.
As of Wednesday afternoon, no arrests had been made in connection with the Feb. 7 altercation in the girls' bathroom at Owasso High School. Police said the incident is still under investigation.
The apparent seriousness of the altercation, and the student's death the next day, has focused national attention on how school officials and law enforcement handle the matter.
The Owasso Police Department said in a statement Tuesday that there were no reports of the incident until later that day, when the injured student was taken to the hospital by relatives. At that point, school staff went to the hospital, according to a police statement. Police said the student was discharged from the hospital and returned home, but Owasso Fire Department medics rushed him to a hospital the next day, where he died.
“At this time, it is unclear whether the death is related to the incident at the school,” the statement said.
On Wednesday, police said in a new statement that preliminary information from the coroner, based on a complete autopsy, “indicates that the deceased did not die as a result of trauma.” The statement did not suggest a cause of death and said further tests, including toxicology, were pending.
The school said in a statement that no other students were deemed to require outside treatment following the incident.
The school district released a statement Tuesday suggesting there was “speculation and misinformation” about the circumstances of the altercation, which lasted less than two minutes and was reported to have been between another student and “supervising staff outside the school.” He said it was disbanded. It's a toilet. The school said in a statement that all of the students involved “walked to the vice principal's office and nurse's office on their own.”
The school district said the students' parents or guardians were given the option to call police after being notified of the altercation, adding that students found involved “will be subject to disciplinary action.”
The school district did not say what disciplinary action was taken.
Jordan Kolfage, a spokeswoman for the district, said she could not provide further details due to privacy laws and that the district could not provide information about past reports of bullying against Nex.
“Nex didn't see himself as male or female,” Nex's grandmother Sue Benedict told The Independent. “The Nex thought they were right in the middle. I was still learning about it, the Nex taught me that.”
At their modest Owasso home, a man who identified himself as Nex's father said the family was still in mourning and declined to comment on the school's response to the incident. “We are grieving for the parents,” he said.
An online death notice describes Nex, using his real name, as a young man who loved nature, painted and played the video games Ark and Minecraft.
Melanie Atwood, 51, who lives two doors down from her family, said she remembered Nex making Atwood's cookies when she was little and loved visiting the cats. “It's really terrible,” Atwood said.
Mr Benedict said he was told Mr Nex had been suspended for two weeks after the altercation at school. After returning home from his first hospital visit, Nex said he complained of a headache. The next day, Nex collapsed at his home and was rushed to the hospital.
The family's attorney issued a statement Wednesday saying Nex had been “assaulted in the bathroom by a group of other students,” and the Benedicts said the “bullying was taken seriously and the family has taken action.” I'm praying for meaningful changes so that we don't have to.” Another avoidable tragedy will occur. ”
The deaths have led to tough calls for anti-transgender laws passed in the state and the rhetoric of Oklahoma officials, including state Superintendent Ryan Walters, who are trying to forcefully thwart so-called “radical gender theories” in school settings. My eyes widened again.
“It's dangerous,” Walters said in a video the agency produced last year. “It puts our daughters at risk.”
The video featured a fight in a restroom from the previous year in which a female student was “severely injured” in a fight with a transgender student, according to the lawsuit.
Advocates for nonbinary and transgender students said the state's policies regarding gender and bathrooms have led to increased reports of conflicts in schools.
“That policy and the messaging around it led to more bathroom policing by students,” said Nicole McAfee, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, which advocates for transgender and gay rights. They said students who do not present themselves as clearly male or female will be questioned by other students. “There's a sense of, 'Do you belong here?'”
In addition to the bathroom law, Oklahoma passed a ban on gender reassignment care for minors last year. And in 2022, the state became the first state in the nation to explicitly ban residents from using gender-neutral markers on birth certificates.
Last month, the state Education Department appointed Chaya Reichik, who runs Libs of TikTok, an account that posts anti-gay and anti-transgender content on X, to the agency's Library Media Advisory Committee. This drew ire from transgender rights groups. , reviews the suitability of school library content.
In 2022, Ryczyk reposted a video of an Owasso School District teacher expressing support for gay and transgender students. The teacher was later fired.
“Chaya has been on the front lines showing the world exactly what the radical left is all about: lowering standards, porn in schools, and imposing woke indoctrination on our children,” Walters said last month. He told The Oklahoman.
Koufage, the Owasso schools spokeswoman, said students who identify as transgender or non-binary will be treated “with the same dignity and respect as all students.”
He added: “Our goal is to welcome all students regardless of race, gender, religion or background.”
Outside Owassa High School on Wednesday, students said the school offered counseling to those who needed it, but their class teacher did not address the national attention to their classmate's death.
“I feel like something happened, but no one is talking about it,” said Chris Turner, 18, a fourth-grader. “A lot of people are acting unusual and are upset.”