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Related: About this forumOklahoma transgender student dies after allegedly assaulted by students at school
Oklahoma transgender student dies after allegedly assaulted by students at school
There's an outcry in Oklahoma after the death of a transgender student that has sparked demands for answers.
CHRISTOPHER WIGGINS
FEBRUARY 20 2024 12:56 PM EST
In Oklahoma, the death of a transgender student after they were assaulted in a school bathroom has sparked widespread outrage and sorrow. Nex Benedict, a sophomore at Owasso High School, was brutally beaten by other students earlier this month and died the following day. The incident has drawn national attention, with many attributing the violent act to a culture of transphobia they say is being stoked by state officials.
The assault on Benedict, 16, happened on February 7, when three older girls attacked them in the girls bathroom, Tulsa NBC affiliate KJRH reports. A teacher intervened to stop the fight. Staff didn't call an ambulance, the outlet noted.
Benedict's grandmother, who was their guardian, took the teenager to the hospital that day. They went back the next day after Benedict became ill. Benedict died that evening.
The grandmother, Sue Benedict, toldThe Independent that her child had been the subject of months of intensifying bullying that began earlier in 2023 after Oklahomas Republican-led government banned transgender students from using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
I didnt know how bad it had gotten, she told the outlet.
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More at link:
https://www.advocate.com/news/transgender-student-death-raichik-walters
Rest in power, rest in peace little one
lapucelle
(19,505 posts)Eko
(8,304 posts)RKP5637
(67,112 posts)all these creatures understand.
stopdiggin
(12,528 posts)(perhaps with the consistent bullying? possible, if reported and recognized.)
But it kind of sounds like the transphobia is being driven by elected state officials?
And as for this child's injuries - she was taken by guardian to hospital. Released. Then returned the next day. Would school staff be more culpable than medical professionals at discerning serious injury?
(maybe I haven't seen the most complete account of how this all went down?)
BootOutTheGoons
(220 posts)A student goes to school alive and well. They endure a severe beating, and the injuries from that beating cause them to die the next day
If this was an isolated incident it's bad enough: a student has died. If there's been a history prior to this, that only makes it worse
They flat-out failed to protect a student. Fuck yes find the school liable
Worst of all is once again the "protect children" crowd failed to protect a child all because they weren't the right kind of child
stopdiggin
(12,528 posts)is not so much liability (although I think that is another discussion that could bear threshing out)
As questioning the premise borne in your last sentence
"Worst of all is once again the "protect children" crowd failed to protect a child all because they weren't the right kind of child "
I'm not sure that the teachers and school system are at all on board with the, as you put it, "wrong kind of child" hysteria and witch hunt. Most educators that I'm familiar with have very little time for this sort of crap. And in fact, are thoroughly heartsick that this noxious nonsense is making it's way into their schools. As I tried to point to in my post - the genesis for this garbage being crammed down their throats - is the Governor and the Mom's for Liberty wackos. And almost certainly not the teachers. (at least none that I've run across) (and I'd be sincerely surprised to find the teacher's union is fostering this ugliness. you?)
BootOutTheGoons
(220 posts)I wish you were as concerned about that as you are trying to protect this school from their failure to ensure the safety of their students
Especially since their failure has now caused a 16 year old to have their future and life taken from them
stopdiggin
(12,528 posts)preclude any measure of sympathy or concern for the victim in this case. That wasn't ever the intent, and I'm sorry you came away with that impression.
I will allow that I have rarely encountered an educator (of any stripe) that wouldn't be absolutely heart-stricken should anything even remotely like this take place on their watch. And so - stand by that part of my previous posts. In my experience, beating up on the schools (or the teachers) is generally neither very productive - nor, in most cases, really even effectively targeting the true problems.
(and I suspect - while admittedly not having a great deal of detail to work with - that this might also be such a case)
Chi67
(1,100 posts)...in that state are responsible. All they do is promote hate in Oklahoma. This is the result.
vercetti2021
(10,337 posts)That fucking witch is the root of all this shit along with the GOP in Okie Dokie shit hole Homa.
LoisB
(8,231 posts)Rest in peace sweet Nex. I am so sorry there are so many ignorant asswipes in the world.
progressoid
(50,497 posts)This is the result of years of anti-trans rhetoric.
wendyb-NC
(3,711 posts)We have the gop state legislatures with their Anti-Trans, and don't say gay, legislation. Working hard to stigmatize our young people, who are Trans and lgbtq+. This type of fixation on on others peoples personal lives, and things that these legislators can't get their warped brains to comprehend, act to delegitimize through legislation the inherent dignity, self determination, richness of being and experience that Trans people have. It's a cruel, non beneficial activity, that these legislators are embracing, and making into law, seeking to marginalize certain citizens.