Autopsy finds transgender teen Nex Benedict died by suicide

Nonbinary Oklahoma pupil Nex Benedict died by suicide, an post-mortem report by the state Medical Examiner has concluded.

In line with the report, acquired by The Impartial on Wednesday, the 16-year-old’s method of demise was suicide, whereas the in all probability trigger was listed as “Diphenhydramine and Fluoxetine mixed toxicity”.

Diphenhydramine and Fluoxetine are generally often called Benadryl and Prozac.

{The teenager} was overwhelmed unconscious inside a college lavatory on 7 February, on the Owasso Excessive College in Oklahoma. They died the next day.

Owasso Police Division additionally confirmed the ruling on Nex’s reason for demise. In a Fb put up on Wednesday, the division wrote: “From the start of this investigation, Owasso Police noticed many indications that this demise was the results of suicide.

“Nonetheless, investigators didn’t want to verify that data with out the ultimate outcomes being introduced by the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Workplace. The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s report has now been made public.

“The Owasso Police Division wish to take this second to tell anybody in disaster or considering suicide of the Oklahoma Psychological Well being Lifeline, simply name or textual content 988.”

Nex, whose household say used them/they pronouns, died in the future after a struggle with three women inside a highschool restroom, throughout which they suffered extreme head accidents, in response to the Owasso Police Division.

{The teenager} collapsed at dwelling the day after the incident and was later pronounced useless in hospital.

Nex had been bullied on the faculty for being brazenly nonbinary, their mom Sue Benedict informed The Impartial. The bullying had begun, Ms Benedict stated, initially of the 2023 faculty yr after Republican state lawmakers handed a invoice that required public faculty college students to make use of loos that matched the intercourse listed on their beginning certificates.

The household beforehand stated they have been conducting an unbiased investigation into the demise, and stated that the info surrounding the case have been “troubling at finest”.

On Wednesday, Oklahoma Legal professional Basic Gentner Drummond, stated: “My coronary heart is damaged over the tragic demise of Nex Benedict. The Medical Examiner’s discovering of suicide makes me much more involved that bullying performed a job on this horrible loss.

“Consultants inform us that social media, bullying and a number of different elements are fueling a rash of suicides amongst younger individuals, significantly for marginalized and traumatized youth.

“Combating this drawback probably means strengthening legal guidelines in opposition to bullying, in addition to rising emphasis on psychological well being companies. Maybe most instantly it means rejecting the cruelty of phrases and actions so typically inflicted by different college students, adults and algorithms on our youngest generations.”

Nex’s demise after has led to widespread condemnation of Oklahoma lawmakers, who’ve launched greater than 50 anti-LGBTQ payments within the present legislative session. LGBTQ advocacy teams within the state have linked Nex’s demise to the rise of hateful rhetoric and anti-trans laws that has been handed.

Freedom Oklahoma described Nex’s demise as a “hate crime”, and blamed the “hateful rhetoric spewed by leaders in our state” and far-right social media influencers.

In late February, following Nex’s demise, greater than a dozen of their former classmates staged a walkout to protest bullying and present help for the varsity’s LGBTQ neighborhood.

College students and advocates displayed indicators that acknowledged “You Are Liked” and “Defend Queer Youngsters” as they gathered at an intersection throughout from the varsity within the Tulsa suburbs.

“There’s a neighborhood right here on this metropolis that does exist, and we see them, and they’re beloved,” organiser Cassidy Brown, an Owasso graduate, informed KTUL.

The protest got here amid nationwide vigils to honour Nex’s reminiscence throughout Oklahoma state, and in Los Angeles, New York and Texas.

“It’s appalling and shameful that Nex Benedict endured a yr of anti-LGBTQ harassment, then a brutal beating within the faculty lavatory,” the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD stated in a press release.

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Marketing campaign, stated: “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 in the present day.

“We maintain their household in our hearts as they grapple with the devastating actuality that their beloved youngster, a teen with a brilliant future, is now not making this world a brighter place. Nex died in the future after being overwhelmed unconscious in a college lavatory, and following greater than a yr of bullying and harassment in school. That is heartbreaking.

“And we’ve got heard from so many dad and mom and college students that this tradition of bullying and harassment is each pervasive at Owasso Public Faculties and that many inside the faculty had precise information that it was occurring and took no steps to repair it.

“We reiterate our name for a full and full investigation. Younger individuals in Oklahoma and throughout the nation need to be protected and revered in school.”

Practically 58 per cent of of LGBT+ youth in Oklahoma felt unsafe in school, in response to a 2022 survey from the Human Rights Marketing campaign. Lower than half of trans and gender nonconforming college students in Oklahoma consider lecturers and workers care about them, in comparison with two-thirds of trans youth in different states, the survey discovered.

A separate youth survey by the Trevor Mission in 2022 discovered that 48 per cent of Oklahoma LGBT+ youth, together with 55 -er cent of trans and nonbinary youth, had significantly thought of suicide inside the yr previous to the survey.

Sixteen per cent of LGBT+ youth within the state, together with 20 per cent of trans and nonbinary youth, reported making an attempt suicide, in response to the report.