Several hundred of New York’s queer community gathered outside Greenwich Village’s Stonewall Inn Monday evening to mourn the death of 16-year-old nonbinary and two-spirit Oklahoma student Nex Benedict. They died after they were allegedly bullied by classmates at their school, leading to a physical altercation.
Benedict died on Feb. 8, a day after a physical altercation with three classmates, who had been laughing at them in a bathroom at Owasso High School in Oklahoma. In a police interview video that took place the day before they died, Benedict said these classmates had previously picked on them and their friends “because of the way that we dress.” The video was released on Feb. 24. Benedict went to the hospital soon after the fight, though according to the BBC the high school did not call an ambulance. According to the New York Times, the next day Benedict collapsed on the floor of their home and was pronounced dead. No cause of death has been determined.
The teen’s death has sparked national outrage and highlighted the scrutiny gender queer children face in schools across the country. New Yorkers young and old crowded around the entrance of the Stonewall Inn, a historic landmark of LGBTQ+ rights. Opposite the rainbow-colored array of string lights which illuminated the landmark’s window, attendees bore candles and pride gear. Signs read “nonbinary kids deserve to become nonbinary adults” and “Nex killed by hate.”
Around 5:30pm, in the dusky twilight hours, several speakers spoke about Nex, the barriers they faced in their home state of Oklahoma, and what gender queer kids face in light of Nex’s death. The vigil concluded with a memorial service for Nex around the Stonewall Monument outside the entrance to Christopher Park.
Benjamin Shepard, member of ACT UP NYC along with staff at New Alternatives NYC organized the vigil in light of the tragedy. “I feel like that could have been any of us. I was bullied as a kid. So I started calling some of our friends,” Shepard said.
Community members highlighted how the discrimination Benedict faced in Oklahoma also plagues New York. “People say to me frequently, oh, you know, you’re lucky you teach in New York City and not places like Florida. And it’s different, but it’s not as different as people think it is,” nonbinary NYC school teacher Jo Maceolaro said.
In the face of the loss of Benedict, New Yorkers and the queer community at large found solidarity at yesterday’s vigil.
“The first thing I saw when I got off the train station was this huge crowd. And I just felt this sense of everyone coming together and this sense of power almost,” Kevin Schmidt Johnson said, New Alternatives collaborator and concluding speaker at the vigil.
For LB Primm, a liberal arts student at Borough of Manhattan Community College, being surrounded by the queer community has been a support in coping with this tragedy.
“All of my friends have been reaching out to each other and I’ve been reaching out to people and just trying to exist,” Primm said.
Barely three months into 2024, three anti-trans bills have passed in state houses around the country. Nex’s home state Oklahoma has introduced the most anti-trans bills in 2024 according to the Trans Legislation Tracker.
