Medical experts confirmed on Wednesday that Nex Benedict, a nonbinary Oklahoma scholar assaulted in a college rest room, died by suicide final month.
The state medical expert discovered the 16-year-old died from toxicity of two medicine, an antihistamine and antidepressant, in response to a number of media retailers.
On Feb. 7, Benedict was assaulted by their friends in an Owasso Excessive College rest room. The entire college students concerned within the battle “walked below their very own energy” to see the college nurse and assistant principal, in response to police. Benedict, who obtained a suspension, was handled at a hospital. The following day, they collapsed of their front room and have been rushed to the hospital, the place they later died.
Owasso police claimed in February that Benedict didn’t die from the trauma sustained within the Feb. 7 assault. However the scholar’s household mentioned that they might conduct their very own unbiased investigation into the demise.
Benedict’s household, the Owasso Police Division and the state’s medical expert’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to JHB’s request for remark.
Benedict, who was nonbinary, had been bullied for a 12 months, the Unbiased reported. The bullying started shortly after Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed a regulation requiring college students to make use of loos that align with the intercourse listed on their start certificates.
Benedict’s demise sparked outrage from LGBTQ activists and organizations, as conservative lawmakers proceed to introduce anti-LGBTQ payments in states nationwide. In response to the American Civil Liberties Union, 478 anti-LGBTQ payments have been launched this legislative session up to now, following the over 500 payments that have been launched in 2023.
The Washington Put up reported this week that college hate crimes focusing on LGBTQ college students have quadrupled in states which have handed anti-LGBTQ laws. LGBTQ youth psychological well being organizations have reportedly obtained elevated disaster calls since Benedict’s demise, with many callers mentioning situations of bullying and harassment.
Dozens of scholars walked out of Owasso Excessive College on Feb. 26 to take a stand towards bullying and protest the dearth of response from college officers following Benedict’s demise.
The U.S. Division of Training introduced this month that it’ll launch an investigation into the Owasso Public College District to find out it failed to reply appropriately to sex-based harassment, following complaints filed by the Human Rights Marketing campaign.
“As dad and mom, we ship our children to highschool anticipating that they are going to be protected and cared for. Nex was failed by so many and will nonetheless be right here at the moment,” Kelley Robinson, president of HRC, mentioned in a statement on Wednesday in response to the post-mortem report. “We maintain their household in our hearts as they grapple with the devastating actuality that their beloved baby, a teen with a vivid future, is now not making this world a brighter place.”
If you happen to or somebody wants assist, name or textual content 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for psychological well being help. Moreover, you could find native psychological well being and disaster assets at dontcallthepolice.com. Outdoors of the U.S., please go to the Worldwide Affiliation for Suicide Prevention.