Dozens of students at Owasso High School in Oklahoma walked out on Monday in the wake of the death of Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old who died on Feb. 8, one day after being beaten in a school restroom. The students said they were protesting a culture of bullying and a lack of response by school officials.last week showing an interview with Benedict, who describes how three girls “jumped” them after they threw water at them.
Remy, a 26-year-old pharmacy technician who uses they/them and he/him pronouns, said their time at Owasso High was the worst four years of their life. Remy, who now lives in Colorado, graduated in 2016 and said they experienced bullying from students and teachers because of the way they looked and dressed.
Though Remy was not out as trans in high school, they said friends who did come out were afraid of what might happen to them and were taunted and mocked by fellow classmates. “We believe that Nex’s death is the natural consequence of a growing wave of hatred against LGBTQ+ people,” read the Human Right Campaign’s“Their death is a gut-wrenching tragedy that exposes the chilling reality of anti-transgender hatred spreading across the United States, and must be investigated by the Department as a potential hate crime,” the letter said.
Last week, in a meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Education, Walters briefly acknowledged Benedict’s death as “a heartbreaking tragedy.” He then moved on to speak about the fight a“We’re never going to back down to those pressures. We’re going to continue to make sure our kids are receiving a good education, and the type of materials that we’ve seen are incredibly graphic and pornographic and should not be in the hands of kids,” he said.
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