Remembering Nex Benedict

– A version of this statement originally appeared on www.instagram.com/quentin.quarantino

Reading about Nex Benedict, they sounded like an amazing 16-year-old. Someone we would have been proud to know. Nex was a nonbinary high-school sophomore of Choctaw ancestry who, like many teens their age, loved playing Minecraft and watching The Walking Dead. They loved drawing, reading, and hanging out with the family cat, Zeus. When a teacher at their school was targeted in a video by Libs of TikTok — for telling his students to love themselves no matter what outside forces said about them — according to their mom, they were mad. 

We are writing all of this because it’s important to remember Nex as more than a name. They were a human being. And a pretty amazing-sounding human being at that. 

On February 7, 2024, Nex was beaten by fellow students inside a restroom at Owasso High School, where they attended school in Owasso, Oklahoma. One day later, they succumbed to injuries sustained during the attack and passed away. 

Nex had a bright future. To see them mercilessly bullied for being nonbinary — and to see how that bullying ended — is heartbreaking. Knowing that school officials failed to intervene or call an ambulance following the attack shows that the adults in the room failed Nex when they needed help most. Nex deserved SO MUCH BETTER!

We will continue to fight for better for kids like Nex. For laws that don’t make LGBTQ+ kids a target, but protect them. For inclusive education in schools. For critical conversations about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools so that students aren’t taught to fear and hate their LGBTQ+ peers. 

For kids like Nex Benedict.

For additional resources, visit our “Get Help” section, including our resource guides for trans and GNC youth. You can also check out imi, a digital mental health guide made for and with LGBTQ+ youth.