Devastating. I have no words. In case anyone here needs to avoid news like this for your own mental health, we’ve started tagging items like this in ~lgbt with downer so that they can be filtered...
Devastating. I have no words.
In case anyone here needs to avoid news like this for your own mental health, we’ve started tagging items like this in ~lgbt with downer so that they can be filtered out. Add the tag to your list and you won’t see them in your feed.
Should these girls not have been expelled already before they had any chance to attack a second person?
In an interview, Sue told The Independent that her grandchild was allegedly attacked by three older girls, who also allegedly attacked another trans student in the bathroom on campus.
Should these girls not have been expelled already before they had any chance to attack a second person?
There is no mention about these three girls being suspended. I'm sure they will be suspended or expelled given the fact that this resulted in a death. With that being said, I think it's important...
When Sue arrived at the school, she said that she saw Nex with bruises all over their face and with scratches on the back of their head. She claimed that the school did not call the police, nor an ambulance for Nex. The school proceeded to suspend Nex for two weeks, Sue alleged.
There is no mention about these three girls being suspended. I'm sure they will be suspended or expelled given the fact that this resulted in a death. With that being said, I think it's important to highlight that no tolerance style policies around violence often don't account for bullying well, and in many cases what ends up happening is that the person who is bullied gets suspended and unless the bullying is witnessed by others the people who do the bullying often receive no consequences because there's no proof they were involved in the altercation.
Either way we have close to no information on actions taken by school administrators in response to this bullying incident at this point, but it is at a school which previously fired a teacher for having pro-lgbtq+ thoughts and that there was a history of bullying of this particular child, in a state which recently passed an anti-lgbtq+ bathroom law.
This also illustrates the ultimate purpose of anti-trans bathroom laws, to drive trans people from public life entirely. This child was using the restroom the laws of their state legally required...
Exemplary
This also illustrates the ultimate purpose of anti-trans bathroom laws, to drive trans people from public life entirely. This child was using the restroom the laws of their state legally required them to use. And they were killed for it.
Most trans people don't just jump into the restroom of the sex they're transitioning to the minute they come out. Rather, the most common practice is to wait until you're far enough in transition that people start giving you flack for using the restroom of your assigned gender at birth (AGAB). Especially after a period of time on hormone therapy, people will start acting weird around you in bathrooms. Eventually they start double-taking and thinking they've walked into the wrong bathroom. You reach a point where it's far less disruptive to use the restroom of the gender you're transitioning to.
Anti-trans bathroom laws are intended to force trans people to out themselves to random people in public, in a bathroom of all places, a sensitive space that can easily lead to harassment and violence. If you're a "passing" trans person, and your state passes a bathroom law, then you now have a choice to make. You could use the restroom of the gender you transitioned to. This, on a daily basis, will be the easier option. It's less disruptive overall, and most people will never bat an eye with you in there. But...all it takes is one bad day. If someone does manage to clock you, or otherwise knows of your past, then now you're actually violating a criminal law. You could literally be arrested. And in a state evil enough to pass bathroom laws, they're going to want to house you with your AGAB and also likely seek to deny you medical treatment. So, using the restroom of your transitioned gender will be less risky on an everyday basis, in turn for a rare but potentially very catastrophic criminal outcome.
Alternately, you can use the restroom of your AGAB. Do this, and you will not be violating the law, but you will be outing yourself. You will face harassment on a daily basis. And you can easily face assault or worse by bigots for using the "wrong restroom." Bigots have no idea what trans people look like. If they saw a trans man in the women's restroom, abiding by state law, they would think it's a trans woman. Because in their minds, a trans woman is just some dude with a beard who thinks they should be able to use the women's restroom.
Even following the law does not protect you from prosecution. If you are attacked for complying with state law, you are almost certainly going to be the one arrested after the altercation. The police will certainly take the side of your attackers. Even if the police officer isn't more ideologically aligned with the bigots, you'll probably be outnumbered with the word of multiple people against you. The police officer doesn't know what trans people look like either, so they won't understand that you are in fact using the right bathroom, or they simply won't care. You may be arrested, charged, and booked for violating a bathroom law that you were complying with. Within a day or two it will be remedied, but you'll still have spent the night in jail. And the cop, even if malicious, can simply claim they made an "honest mistake."
Oh, and if all else fails, the people harassing you for using the legally-required bathroom may simply lie in a way that appeals to anti-trans stereotypes. Maybe they lie and say they saw you performing some crude sex act in a public bathroom, or that you exposed yourself, etc. The kind of people who want to pass anti-trans bathroom laws do not like being forced to share spaces with visibly trans people, which is exactly what bathroom laws require. And they will do what they can to destroy or remove visibly trans people that they're forced to share spaces with.
These girls harassed this kid, even though they were doing exactly what the state law required of them. The girls realized that there wasn't anything they could do legally to kick this nonbinary kid out of the women's restroom. Again, they were following the laws of the state. This isn't a "problem" that your parent can solve by going full bigot Karen on the school board. The school's hands are tied by state law. So, first they tried regular bullying. Bully the kid so hard that hopefully they'll leave the school entirely. They tried that for a bit, but the kid's will was too strong. So, with the law no help, and with regular bullying failing, they decided to simply kill them. For their entire teenage years and earlier, these girls were taught to hate and fear trans people. All their political and educational leaders telling them that trans people are deviants and perverts who need to be removed from society.
It's a tragic fact of the history of bigotry that many of the most heinous acts are committed by the very young. Matthew Shepard was killed by men in their early twenties. Brianna Ghey was killed by a pair of 15 year old girls. And now Nex. All here the hate and propaganda, but the young are more impulsive and have less to lose. An 18 year old guy is less likely to start assault someone than a 45 year old with two kids, even if both the 18 and 45 year old hold similar levels of bigotry. The 18 year old will try to kill someone; the 45 year old will donate to a Republican politician.
And these girls are just following what they've been taught. They were raised to believe that trans people are sinful deviants that need to be eradicated. And that's exactly what they did.
This comment is great overall, but I would like to point out one thing. You say: But given that Nex was non-binary, this was not even an option there, making it even more of a catch-22.
This comment is great overall, but I would like to point out one thing. You say:
You could use the restroom of the gender you transitioned to.
But given that Nex was non-binary, this was not even an option there, making it even more of a catch-22.
And for straight people who don't care (I'm not saying they shouldn't care just there are people who don't sadly), they should. Cause it also causes problems for anyone straight who doesn't appear...
And for straight people who don't care (I'm not saying they shouldn't care just there are people who don't sadly), they should. Cause it also causes problems for anyone straight who doesn't appear to match their gender (whether by choice or just chance of nature). Already had an issue where a woman used the women's bathroom but she looked mannish so people reported her.
It not only is a way to out trans people (definitely the worst aspect) but it also is a way to control people to conform to gender norms. For example I'm a tomboy and I know when I was a kid I remember some teen commenting to some one else that she thought I was a guy. It stung a little but then I'm lucky that I tended not to care as much about that stuff as some teens so it mostly rolled off my back (but not enough that I don't remember it even now but I pretty much cringed a little and moved on). And that there weren't stupid laws like this that some other teens couldn't use to harass me with.
Yup. It's ultimately about controlling the larger population as well. It's all part of a much larger decades-long push for Christian nationalism. The goal is to force everyone to live according to...
Yup. It's ultimately about controlling the larger population as well. It's all part of a much larger decades-long push for Christian nationalism. The goal is to force everyone to live according to their warped view of religion. This is also why trans rights and reproductive rights are so interconnected. The same ruling that struck down Roe v. Wade, which was based on the right of bodily autonomy, is now being used to justify laws attacking trans rights. The central point of Roe was that all of us have a right to bodily autonomy, and that the state cannot interfere with that and our medical decisions without very strong state interest. Whether you want contraceptives, an abortion, or trans health care, they all come down to your right to control what happens to your own body. This is also why Planned Parenthood has been involved in trans healthcare for years. The people at the front lines of reproductive freedom recognize the clear connection to trans rights. Ultimately, all of us have legal control over our bodies, or none of us do.
Honestly, they shouldn't just be suspended/expelled, they should be charged for murder or at the very very least, manslaughter (But I personally think it fits into murder)
Honestly, they shouldn't just be suspended/expelled, they should be charged for murder or at the very very least, manslaughter (But I personally think it fits into murder)
It is and I can imagine will be pursued as a hate crime, which I think is appropriate. But I also greatly believe in creative sentencing. In addition to a reasonable amount of punishment (someone...
It is and I can imagine will be pursued as a hate crime, which I think is appropriate. But I also greatly believe in creative sentencing. In addition to a reasonable amount of punishment (someone is dead here, there needs to be punishment) I hope the judge orders a LOT of community service and I hope the community service is specifically tailored to educate them about diversity, anger management, and the harms of violence.
What I truly wish is that the parents could be forced to do some community service for indoctrinating their children into believing violence against innocents can be okay, but the only times I've seen parents on trial over their children is when they actively enabled their child's violence, such as by purchasing weapons for them.
Oklahoma’s hate crime law doesn’t include protections for gender or sexual orientation, so it would not be considered a hate crime for legal purposes. I'm just hoping they get charged at all.
Oklahoma’s hate crime law doesn’t include protections for gender or sexual orientation, so it would not be considered a hate crime for legal purposes. I'm just hoping they get charged at all.
Federally speaking, shephard/byrd hate crime law makes crimes motivated by perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability all prosecutable under title I
Federally speaking, shephard/byrd hate crime law makes crimes motivated by perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability all prosecutable under title I
And have been charged with assault for that previous attack. They really should be charged with murder for this current one or at teh very very least, manslaughter.
And have been charged with assault for that previous attack. They really should be charged with murder for this current one or at teh very very least, manslaughter.
I want to credit their adoptive mother/bio grandma for this statement in the GoFundMe. While Nex was initially deadnamed by family, it sounds genuinely like they were loved and family was...
I want to credit their adoptive mother/bio grandma for this statement in the GoFundMe.
While Nex was initially deadnamed by family, it sounds genuinely like they were loved and family was supportive of Nex's identity just in a transitional stage still as they learned. Nex should still be here. They should not have been killed nor should this family have lost a child. But at least they seem to have been trying.
We at this time are thankful for the ongoing support and did not expect the love from everyone. We are sorry for not using their name correctly and as parents we were still learning the correct forms. Please do not judge us as Nex was judged, please do not bully us for our ignorance on the subject. Nex gave us that respect and we are sorry in our grief that we overlooked them. I lost my child, the headstone will have correct name of their choice. The rest of monies will go to other children dealing with the right to be who they feel they are, in Nex Benedict’s name. God bless
That poor child, and that poor family. My condolences to them, and to our enby, gender-nonconforming, third gender, agender, and non gender fam. You are loved and wanted, even if this hate crime...
That poor child, and that poor family. My condolences to them, and to our enby, gender-nonconforming, third gender, agender, and non gender fam. You are loved and wanted, even if this hate crime makes it seem like you're not.
This school has a particularly shitty and hateful superintendent, I've read, who appointed Chaiya Raichik, AKA proud stochastic terrorist LibsOfTikTok, to a position of power overseeing library...
This school has a particularly shitty and hateful superintendent, I've read, who appointed Chaiya Raichik, AKA proud stochastic terrorist LibsOfTikTok, to a position of power overseeing library content. Said terrorist (who was responsible for a pro-LGBTQ teacher being fired when she (Raichik) posted an edited video of the teacher which resulted in numerous death threats being sent to the school) has since allegedly been whining on Twitter that people hold her responsible for this outcome.
More on the aforementioned vermin:
In June 2023, he put out a “public service message” describing transgender students as a “threat” in schools.
Mr Walters appointed Chaya Raichik, an anti-LGBTQ activist who runs the Libs of TikTok social media account, to a state library board last month.
Ms Raichik posts edited, anti-trans videos that target LGBTQ friendly public school teachers and librarians.
Here is a NYT article for an interview with the superintendent. … It’s funny. Most of the stuff he accuses the left of doing I think is absolutely correct. I do want radical gender theory in...
In his first interview reacting to the death of the student, Nex Benedict, Mr. Walters told The New York Times that the death was a tragedy, but that it did not change his views on how questions of gender should be handled in schools.
“There’s not multiple genders. There’s two. That’s how God created us,” Mr. Walters said, saying he did not believe that nonbinary or transgender people exist. He said that Oklahoma schools would not allow students to use preferred names or pronouns that differ from their birth sex.
…
“I really see there’s a civil war going on, where the left is really fighting for the soul of our country,” he said. “They are undermining the very principles that made this country great, our Judeo-Christian values and our traditions in this country.”
Getting back to those values and traditions, he added, “that’s what will unify us.”
It’s funny. Most of the stuff he accuses the left of doing I think is absolutely correct. I do want radical gender theory in schools. I do want to end their values.
This is terrible. I'm sure Nex is in heaven right now, they didn't do a single thing wrong. Nothing that would ever, ever warrant the vile hatred and violence that came their way. I somehow doubt...
This is terrible. I'm sure Nex is in heaven right now, they didn't do a single thing wrong. Nothing that would ever, ever warrant the vile hatred and violence that came their way. I somehow doubt the school (given its history) will do anything to prevent a future incident like this either which is deeply saddening.
Praying for Nex and their family, and for everyone suffering at the hands of discrimination right now. God bless.
Devastating. I have no words.
In case anyone here needs to avoid news like this for your own mental health, we’ve started tagging items like this in ~lgbt with
downerso that they can be filtered out. Add the tag to your list and you won’t see them in your feed.Love and support to all our enbies here.
Should these girls not have been expelled already before they had any chance to attack a second person?
There is no mention about these three girls being suspended. I'm sure they will be suspended or expelled given the fact that this resulted in a death. With that being said, I think it's important to highlight that no tolerance style policies around violence often don't account for bullying well, and in many cases what ends up happening is that the person who is bullied gets suspended and unless the bullying is witnessed by others the people who do the bullying often receive no consequences because there's no proof they were involved in the altercation.
Either way we have close to no information on actions taken by school administrators in response to this bullying incident at this point, but it is at a school which previously fired a teacher for having pro-lgbtq+ thoughts and that there was a history of bullying of this particular child, in a state which recently passed an anti-lgbtq+ bathroom law.
This also illustrates the ultimate purpose of anti-trans bathroom laws, to drive trans people from public life entirely. This child was using the restroom the laws of their state legally required them to use. And they were killed for it.
Most trans people don't just jump into the restroom of the sex they're transitioning to the minute they come out. Rather, the most common practice is to wait until you're far enough in transition that people start giving you flack for using the restroom of your assigned gender at birth (AGAB). Especially after a period of time on hormone therapy, people will start acting weird around you in bathrooms. Eventually they start double-taking and thinking they've walked into the wrong bathroom. You reach a point where it's far less disruptive to use the restroom of the gender you're transitioning to.
Anti-trans bathroom laws are intended to force trans people to out themselves to random people in public, in a bathroom of all places, a sensitive space that can easily lead to harassment and violence. If you're a "passing" trans person, and your state passes a bathroom law, then you now have a choice to make. You could use the restroom of the gender you transitioned to. This, on a daily basis, will be the easier option. It's less disruptive overall, and most people will never bat an eye with you in there. But...all it takes is one bad day. If someone does manage to clock you, or otherwise knows of your past, then now you're actually violating a criminal law. You could literally be arrested. And in a state evil enough to pass bathroom laws, they're going to want to house you with your AGAB and also likely seek to deny you medical treatment. So, using the restroom of your transitioned gender will be less risky on an everyday basis, in turn for a rare but potentially very catastrophic criminal outcome.
Alternately, you can use the restroom of your AGAB. Do this, and you will not be violating the law, but you will be outing yourself. You will face harassment on a daily basis. And you can easily face assault or worse by bigots for using the "wrong restroom." Bigots have no idea what trans people look like. If they saw a trans man in the women's restroom, abiding by state law, they would think it's a trans woman. Because in their minds, a trans woman is just some dude with a beard who thinks they should be able to use the women's restroom.
Even following the law does not protect you from prosecution. If you are attacked for complying with state law, you are almost certainly going to be the one arrested after the altercation. The police will certainly take the side of your attackers. Even if the police officer isn't more ideologically aligned with the bigots, you'll probably be outnumbered with the word of multiple people against you. The police officer doesn't know what trans people look like either, so they won't understand that you are in fact using the right bathroom, or they simply won't care. You may be arrested, charged, and booked for violating a bathroom law that you were complying with. Within a day or two it will be remedied, but you'll still have spent the night in jail. And the cop, even if malicious, can simply claim they made an "honest mistake."
Oh, and if all else fails, the people harassing you for using the legally-required bathroom may simply lie in a way that appeals to anti-trans stereotypes. Maybe they lie and say they saw you performing some crude sex act in a public bathroom, or that you exposed yourself, etc. The kind of people who want to pass anti-trans bathroom laws do not like being forced to share spaces with visibly trans people, which is exactly what bathroom laws require. And they will do what they can to destroy or remove visibly trans people that they're forced to share spaces with.
These girls harassed this kid, even though they were doing exactly what the state law required of them. The girls realized that there wasn't anything they could do legally to kick this nonbinary kid out of the women's restroom. Again, they were following the laws of the state. This isn't a "problem" that your parent can solve by going full bigot Karen on the school board. The school's hands are tied by state law. So, first they tried regular bullying. Bully the kid so hard that hopefully they'll leave the school entirely. They tried that for a bit, but the kid's will was too strong. So, with the law no help, and with regular bullying failing, they decided to simply kill them. For their entire teenage years and earlier, these girls were taught to hate and fear trans people. All their political and educational leaders telling them that trans people are deviants and perverts who need to be removed from society.
It's a tragic fact of the history of bigotry that many of the most heinous acts are committed by the very young. Matthew Shepard was killed by men in their early twenties. Brianna Ghey was killed by a pair of 15 year old girls. And now Nex. All here the hate and propaganda, but the young are more impulsive and have less to lose. An 18 year old guy is less likely to start assault someone than a 45 year old with two kids, even if both the 18 and 45 year old hold similar levels of bigotry. The 18 year old will try to kill someone; the 45 year old will donate to a Republican politician.
And these girls are just following what they've been taught. They were raised to believe that trans people are sinful deviants that need to be eradicated. And that's exactly what they did.
This comment is great overall, but I would like to point out one thing. You say:
But given that Nex was non-binary, this was not even an option there, making it even more of a catch-22.
Sure. And somehow I doubt that there's an abundance of gender-neutral restrooms on this campus.
And for straight people who don't care (I'm not saying they shouldn't care just there are people who don't sadly), they should. Cause it also causes problems for anyone straight who doesn't appear to match their gender (whether by choice or just chance of nature). Already had an issue where a woman used the women's bathroom but she looked mannish so people reported her.
It not only is a way to out trans people (definitely the worst aspect) but it also is a way to control people to conform to gender norms. For example I'm a tomboy and I know when I was a kid I remember some teen commenting to some one else that she thought I was a guy. It stung a little but then I'm lucky that I tended not to care as much about that stuff as some teens so it mostly rolled off my back (but not enough that I don't remember it even now but I pretty much cringed a little and moved on). And that there weren't stupid laws like this that some other teens couldn't use to harass me with.
Yup. It's ultimately about controlling the larger population as well. It's all part of a much larger decades-long push for Christian nationalism. The goal is to force everyone to live according to their warped view of religion. This is also why trans rights and reproductive rights are so interconnected. The same ruling that struck down Roe v. Wade, which was based on the right of bodily autonomy, is now being used to justify laws attacking trans rights. The central point of Roe was that all of us have a right to bodily autonomy, and that the state cannot interfere with that and our medical decisions without very strong state interest. Whether you want contraceptives, an abortion, or trans health care, they all come down to your right to control what happens to your own body. This is also why Planned Parenthood has been involved in trans healthcare for years. The people at the front lines of reproductive freedom recognize the clear connection to trans rights. Ultimately, all of us have legal control over our bodies, or none of us do.
Honestly, they shouldn't just be suspended/expelled, they should be charged for murder or at the very very least, manslaughter (But I personally think it fits into murder)
It is and I can imagine will be pursued as a hate crime, which I think is appropriate. But I also greatly believe in creative sentencing. In addition to a reasonable amount of punishment (someone is dead here, there needs to be punishment) I hope the judge orders a LOT of community service and I hope the community service is specifically tailored to educate them about diversity, anger management, and the harms of violence.
What I truly wish is that the parents could be forced to do some community service for indoctrinating their children into believing violence against innocents can be okay, but the only times I've seen parents on trial over their children is when they actively enabled their child's violence, such as by purchasing weapons for them.
Oklahoma’s hate crime law doesn’t include protections for gender or sexual orientation, so it would not be considered a hate crime for legal purposes. I'm just hoping they get charged at all.
Federally speaking, shephard/byrd hate crime law makes crimes motivated by perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability all prosecutable under title I
It could be considered a federal hate crime however.
And have been charged with assault for that previous attack. They really should be charged with murder for this current one or at teh very very least, manslaughter.
I want to credit their adoptive mother/bio grandma for this statement in the GoFundMe.
While Nex was initially deadnamed by family, it sounds genuinely like they were loved and family was supportive of Nex's identity just in a transitional stage still as they learned. Nex should still be here. They should not have been killed nor should this family have lost a child. But at least they seem to have been trying.
That poor child, and that poor family. My condolences to them, and to our enby, gender-nonconforming, third gender, agender, and non gender fam. You are loved and wanted, even if this hate crime makes it seem like you're not.
This school has a particularly shitty and hateful superintendent, I've read, who appointed Chaiya Raichik, AKA proud stochastic terrorist LibsOfTikTok, to a position of power overseeing library content. Said terrorist (who was responsible for a pro-LGBTQ teacher being fired when she (Raichik) posted an edited video of the teacher which resulted in numerous death threats being sent to the school) has since allegedly been whining on Twitter that people hold her responsible for this outcome.
More on the aforementioned vermin:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nex-benedict-oklahoma-ossawa-non-binary-b2500209.html
Here is a NYT article for an interview with the superintendent.
…
It’s funny. Most of the stuff he accuses the left of doing I think is absolutely correct. I do want radical gender theory in schools. I do want to end their values.
This is terrible. I'm sure Nex is in heaven right now, they didn't do a single thing wrong. Nothing that would ever, ever warrant the vile hatred and violence that came their way. I somehow doubt the school (given its history) will do anything to prevent a future incident like this either which is deeply saddening.
Praying for Nex and their family, and for everyone suffering at the hands of discrimination right now. God bless.