Federal regulators will review the deaths of non-binary students in Oklahoma
The U.S. Department of Education said Friday it had opened an investigation into the Oklahoma school district where a 16-year-old student, Nex Benedict, died a day after an altercation in a high school bathroom.
The department said in a letter on Friday that it was investigating whether Owasso Public Schools, outside of Tulsa, “failed to appropriately respond to alleged student harassment” in violation of federal law, including Title IX. The investigation is in response to a complaint from the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group.
The death of Nex, an Owasso High School sophomore who was non-binary, drew national attention after gay and transgender rights groups said Nex was bullied at school because of their gender identity. Nex used the pronouns she and that as well as the pronouns he and him, friends said.
After the altercation, Nex spoke to a police officer at a local hospital and, according to a video of the interview released by Owasso police, described how he poured water on three girls who had bullied Nex and Nex’s friends because of the way they got dressed. . The girls then attacked and fought with Nex, who told the police officer that they fell to the ground and at one point “blacked out.”
The next day, Nex’s grandmother and guardian called an ambulance to rush Nex back to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
Nex’s cause of death remains under investigation by the state medical examiner. Police said in a statement last month that the death was not the result of trauma, but did not elaborate.
Nex’s death put a spotlight on Oklahoma’s restrictive laws and policies for LGBTQ students and the bullying family members and friends said Nex suffered at school.
Karen E. Mines, acting regional director in the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, said in the letter that the opening of an investigation “does not in any way imply that OCR has made a decision on the merits of the complaint.”
In a statement, the school district said it was “committed to cooperating with federal officials” and that it “believes that the complaint filed by HRC is unsupported by the facts and is without merit.”
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said, “We urgently need them to take action so there can be justice for Nex, and so that all students at Owasso High School and every school in Oklahoma can be safe from bullying , harassment and discrimination. ”
At a vigil for Nex last month, Robin Ingersoll, a 16-year-old sophomore and friend of Nex at Owasso High School, said Nex identified as transgender and that LGBTQ students struggled to find acceptance in their corner of Oklahoma.
“It’s worse than the bullying in Owasso,” Robin said. “We could all learn more acceptance of others, and become better, so that something like this doesn’t happen again. We could all grow for Nex.”
Ben Fenwick contributed reporting from Owasso, Oklahoma.