SAN JOSE, CALIF.⸺ Nonbinary student Nex Benedict passed away on Feb. 8, 2024, after an altercation with three girls the previous day. The cause of death is still unknown, but details surrounding the tragedy are adding to the topic between the LGBTQ+ community and bullying. 

Benedict was a 16-year-old who attended Owasso High School in Oklahoma. The situation regarding Benedict saddens many people, myself included. Oklahoma is known to be a conservative state, in which they’re heavily against LGBTQ+ rights. This plays into the current situation because the fight between Benedict and the three girls occurred in a restroom. A law was passed in 2022 that forced people to use restrooms with their assigned sex, with Benedict having to use the female restroom.

Although not the same, this case reminds me of what happened to Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old transgender girl in Britain. She was murdered by two individuals last year on Feb. 11 at a park. Disregarding people’s well-being regardless of any situation shows how cruel humans can be. Although those three girls in the bathroom may not have directly murdered Benedict, they influenced what had happened. 

California is predominately progressive, one of the most liberal states in the country. Although bullying doesn’t happen a lot here, at least from my experience; it’s a problem that unfortunately still exists. Many students at Silver Creek High School are open and supportive of the LGBTQ+ community; some are in the community as well including trans and nonbinary folk. There are some outliers within students due to their religious or political beliefs; that goes for many places here in the States just like with Benedict and Oklahoma.

As for me, I don’t personally get involved with the community much but I identify as a bisexual male. Even so, I could never fully understand what nonbinary and trans people go through without experiencing it myself. They go through a pain that many won’t get, those that don’t either think it’s a mental illness or are sympathetic. I’ve never had a terrible experience with a trans or nonbinary person and if I had ever misgendered them by accident, I would be corrected politely.

I asked fellow Silver Creek High School senior, Vei Atualevao, and she said, “I haven’t heard about this situation before. After hearing about it, it’s terrible and undeserved. LGBTQ+ kids are a target for bullying because people being self-expressive are seen as weird. It’s like they’re obligated to bully them because of their definition of “normal”. I am bisexual and think people within the community are cool, maybe a bit biased there.”