“President Joe Biden expressed his sympathy for Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old transgender, Native American from Oklahoma who passed away on February 8 after an alleged attack by three bullies in his high school bathroom. He stated that Nex, a child who simply wanted to be accepted, should still be alive today.
In a statement released on Thursday, Biden offered condolences to Benedict’s loved ones and encouraged parents and schools to take bullying seriously. “Bullying is hurtful and cruel, and no one should experience the bullying that Nex did,” Biden wrote. “In memory of Nex, we must all renew our efforts to end discrimination and address the suicide crisis impacting too many nonbinary and transgender children,” he added.
Biden praised non-binary and transgender individuals as “some of the bravest Americans I know,” and added, “Nobody should have to be brave just to be themselves… Bullying is hurtful and cruel, and no one should face the bullying that Nex did… To all LGBTQI+ Americans for whom this tragedy feels personal, know this: I will always have your back.”
Benedict’s school didn’t call an ambulance for the injured teen and didn’t inform the police of the attack until he was later admitted to the hospital. In police body camera footage taken at the hospital, Nex — who friends have said identified as trans and primarily used he/him pronouns — said the fight started because the other students involved “had been bullying me and my friends, and I got tired of it. So I poured some water on them, and all three came after me.”
He stated that the bullies beat him until he blacked out. He informed the police that he had “scrapes and bruises,” and told his mother he had a sore head as he headed to bed on February 7. He passed away the next day.
This week, a report from the state medical examiner’s office concluded Benedict’s death was likely a suicide due to the “combined toxicity” of two medications: the anti-histamine diphenhydramine and the anti-depressant fluoxetine. Benedict’s family has promised to carry out an independent investigation into the teen’s death.
“LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times more likely to die by suicide than their peers – not because there is any predisposition in their identity, but because of the tremendous stressors, rejection, and antagonism that many of them face in society,” stated Peggy Rajski, founder and interim CEO of The Trevor Project, a queer youth anti-suicide organization.
The Biden Administration has instructed schools to allow trans and nonbinary students to use the names, pronouns, and school facilities that match their gender identity — including bathrooms and sports teams. Some Republican-led states and districts have responded with anti-trans policies that deny bathroom and locker room access, forcibly out trans kids to their potentially unsupportive parents, and ban gender-affirming care for minors.
“Gender-affirming care has been shown to reduce suicide ideation and attempts in transgender individuals, along with social support, familial support, and reduction of discrimination,” The Trevor Project stated in a recent study.
The Department of Education (DOE) has started to look into the Owasso Public School District of Oklahoma after a request from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization in the country.
Additionally, 350 public figures and LGBTQ+ rights groups signed a public letter asking the Oklahoma legislature to remove the state’s strongly anti-LGBTQ+ head of education, Ryan Walters. Walters, Oklahoma’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction, has been held responsible for creating the conditions that led to Benedict’s death due to his strong anti-LGBTQ+ support.
In January, Walters appointed Chaya Raichik, an anti-LGBTQ+ activist known as Libs of TikTok on social media, to serve on a state book-banning committee. Raichik doesn’t live in the state and has no experience in education or library science. Her previous social media posts have led to threats against educators, an issue she has publicly celebrated.
