Nonbinary Teen’s Death After School Bathroom Fight Sparks Outrage

The death of 16-year-old Nex Benedict, who identified as nonbinary, has ignited an avalanche of criticism over Oklahoma legislation that opponents say targets the LGBTQ+ community.

Nex, whose family said had used they and them pronouns, died one day after being involved in a “physical altercation” in a high school bathroom in a small town outside Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to a statement from the Owasso Police Department (OPD) on Wednesday. Investigators do not believe the teen’s death was the result of “trauma” but said the official cause of death has not been determined.

The teen’s mom, Sue Benedict, said in an interview with British news outlet The Independent that Nex had faced bullying at Owasso High School for more than a year.

“I didn’t know how bad it had gotten,” the mother said.

The Altercation

Sue Benedict said the bullying that her child confronted intensified early last year, just a few months after Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill mandating that students in public schools use bathrooms that matched the gender on their birth certificates.

Newsweek reached out via email on Wednesday to the OPD and Nex’s family via GoFundMe for comment.

Sue Benedict said the bullying became violent on February 7 after Nex suffered head injuries during a “physical altercation” at Owasso High School, which the OPD confirmed it is investigating.

Sue Benedict told The Independent that school officials called her to come in and when she arrived, she found Nex with bruises over their face and eyes and scratches on the back of their head.

Nex told their mother that they and a transgender student at the school had gotten into a fight with three older students in a women’s bathroom, Sue Benedict said. The mother said that Nex was knocked to the ground during the scuffle and hit their head.

OPD said that around 3:30 p.m. that day, officers were called to a local hospital for a report of a student who had been involved in a physical altercation at Owasso High. The police department noted that no report of the fight was made to the OPD before the call from the hospital.

All the students involved in the altercation “walked under their own power to the assistant principal’s office and nurse’s office,” OPD said in a case update on Wednesday.

“Each of the students involved in the altercation was given a health assessment by a registered nurse at the school and it was determined that ambulance service was not required,” OPD said. “While it was determined that ambulance service was not required, the school nurse recommended that Nex Benedict visit a medical facility for further examination.”

Nex went to a local facility where the teen and family reported the fight before being released that same day. It was unclear what testing and treatment Nex received.

OPD said it would not release the names of the students involved in the altercation because they are minors.

The Teen’s Death

The following day, Sue Benedict said, Nex collapsed in the living room, The Independent reported.

OPD said that on the afternoon of February 8, Owasso Fire Department medics responded to a “medical emergency” involving Nex, who was transported to the St. Francis Pediatric Emergency Room, where they later died.

“While the investigation continues into the altercation, preliminary information from the medical examiner’s office is that a complete autopsy was performed and indicated that the decedent did not die as a result of trauma,” the department said.

OPD said it would not comment further on Nex’s cause of death and noted that the official determination on how the teen died is still pending until the results of the toxicology report and other testing are finished, according to OPD.

The Outrage

The news of Nex’s death has ignited a wave of outrage on social media, where people called for justice for the teen and blasted the state’s transgender bathroom ban, blaming the law for the violent altercation the day before Nex died.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, demanded justice for Nex in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“The killing of Nex Benedict is gut-wrenching and underscores the danger of extremists who are dehumanizing kids with anti-trans hate in Oklahoma and across the country,” Warren wrote on Wednesday. “Every student should feel safe at school and supported for who they are. Nex deserves justice.”

The Human Rights Campaign, a U.S. LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said legislation similar to Oklahoma’s bathroom ban adds to the “onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ state bills” that affect the “safety and well-being” of transgender and nonbinary youth.

“Nex’s death also comes at a time when extremist politicians have weaponized trans and gender-expansive identities for political gain, stoking hate and discrimination through their vile rhetoric,” the advocacy group said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Oklahoma bathroom bill’s author, Republican state Representative Danny Williams, previously said that the measure is about “safety” and “protection,” the Associated Press reported.

“The goal of this bill is to protect our children,” Williams said.

Multiple social media users also lashed out at the school district for not calling the police to report the fight or requesting an ambulance.

Sue Benedict also told The Independent that she shared that fury, angered that the school had failed to call authorities.

Newsweek reached out via email on Wednesday night to the school district for comment.

Judd Legum, who writes for independent newsletter Popular Information, posted a series of X posts about Nex’s death. In one post that amassed more than 2.5 million views, he criticized the school district.

“1. Nex Benedict matters,” Legum wrote on X. “Nex was a 16-year-old and non-binary. Nex was brutally beaten in a high school bathroom in Oklahoma. The school did not call an ambulance or the police. Instead, Nex was suspended. Nex died the next day.”

In the wake of the criticism and lingering questions surrounding the incident and Nex’s death, the Owasso school district said in a statement to local media that school officials followed district protocol, which is to notify parents and guardians and give each student involved a health assessment.

District officials said the students involved in the altercation were in the bathroom for less than two minutes before the scuffle was broken up by other students and a staff member who was supervising outside. The district did not release the number of students involved in the incident, according to local station KTUL.