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Most people didn’t hear about Nex Benedict’s death until last week. Yet, the 16-year-old nonbinary student died over two weeks ago on Feb. 8, one day after a physical altercation with their peers in an Oklahoma high school.

Benedict was in the bathroom with their friend when three girls who had reportedly been “antagonizing” them for days walked in. When one of the girls made a rude comment toward them, Benedict splashed water on the girls. They responded by attacking Benedict, resulting in severe head injuries.

Benedict’s grandmother took them to the hospital the same night of the altercation. Benedict, a high school student, died the following day. According to the police, the cause of death is pending further investigation, but preliminary information indicates their death was “not a result of physical trauma from the altercation,” according to ABC News. The Benedict family has said they would independently conduct an investigation into the cause of their death.

While Benedict’s close friends and family mourn, millions of queer people mourn for them as well. The Indigenous community is also grieving the loss of Benedict, whose mother is a member of the Choctaw Nation.

Many 2SLGBTQ+ groups, a community inclusive of individuals who identify as Two-Spirit, have shown their support for Benedict and their family. According to the Native Justice Coalition, “Two-Spirit is an umbrella pan-Native American term that describes gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation and/or spiritual identity.” The term is often used to mean that an individual embodies both male and female spirits.

Despite the identity’s longstanding history, centuries of erasure have caused it to be neglected as a part of the LGBTQ+ community and the violence that the community faces. Benedict’s identity within both the queer community and the Indigenous community highlights the importance of recognizing the added impact of intersectionality.

As of Feb. 25, the ACLU is tracking 54 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in Oklahoma. This is in addition to the numerous bills that have already been passed in the state, such one passed in 2022 that forces students to use the bathroom of their sex assigned at birth. Though legislators argue that the goal of this bill “is to protect our children,” nearly two years later, a child was brutally beaten in a women’s restroom.

These bills harm children who don’t fit what PJ DiPietro, an associate professor at Syracuse University and the director of LGBTQ+ studies, describes as the “heterosexist” and “typically white supremacist” norm. In DiPietro’s words, the bills deny “children a dignified childhood” and basic rights to use a bathroom during the school day.

With a rise in laws targeting queer people in the United States has come a rise in the number of queer people being attacked for their identity. In the 2023 LGBTQ+ Youth Report created by the Human Rights Campaign, it was reported that 62.6% of transgender and gender non-conforming students had been “teased, bullied or treated badly” in the past year. In the 2018 LGBTQ+ Youth Report, 43% of queer students said they had been bullied in school.

These laws create unsafe environments for the children in these school districts, and we need to continue to pressure politicians to put a stop to this harmful legislation nationwide.

While New York state doesn’t have the anti-LGBTQ+ bills that other parts of the country are infamous for, that doesn’t stop the state from being riddled with hate crimes. While the state had 61 hate crimes related to queerness in 2020, there were 142 in 2022, the vast majority of which were related to sexual orientation. New Yorkers also feel the effects of other states’ laws when considering where to travel or move to in the U.S.

DiPietro explained that gender-nonconforming people commonly experience forms of violence such as “homelessness, suicide attempts or suicide ideations, bullying, lack of education opportunities and assault of different kinds, including sexual assault, battery and rape.”

Benedict was one of many queer students who has been relentlessly bullied at their respective high school. As a nonbinary student, they were already at risk for discrimination, yet the increase of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Benedict’s home state of Oklahoma worsened this.

Across the United States, conservative lawmakers, media organizations and social media accounts, such as LibsofTikTok, have been promoting hate against transgender and nonbinary individuals. It is no wonder that impressionable young people like those at Benedict’s school have adopted this harmful ideology.

Creating a culture of understanding and acceptance starts at the social levels of family and education. Part of the responsibility is on educators to create supportive environments for students from all walks of life. Without open environments, kids aren’t able to learn about people different from them or even their own potential identities.

DiPietro emphasizes that “we need advocates, we need educators, we need scholars, we need activists, we need allies, we need community members who are educated on the values of justice, autonomy, self-determination and ethical coexistence with the rest of the world.”

It is crucial that along with social education, legal action is taken to protect queer people – not harm them. If you want to make a difference for people in the queer community, call your local officials and advocate for this protection. If you’re old enough, go out and vote for politicians who support these rights. And if you want to support Nex Benedict’s family, they are currently raising money through a GoFundMe campaign online.

Claire McBride is a freshman Magazine, News and Digital Journalism major. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at Cpmcbrid@syr.edu.

Published on February 26, 2024 at 1:35 am