“Non-binary and transgender persons are a number of the bravest Individuals I do know”
President Joe Biden issued a sweeping assertion Thursday calling for an finish to discrimination following an post-mortem report that discovered self-identified 16-year-old Nex Benedict died by suicide.
Benedict, a organic pupil at Owasso Excessive Faculty in Owasso, Oklahoma, made headlines final month after the White Home and Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt joined LGBT teams in calling consideration to her Feb. 8 dying, which occurred the day after he claimed , that he obtained right into a battle with three ladies within the faculty lavatory.
“Nex Benedict, the child who simply needed to be adopted, needs to be right here with us at this time,” Biden mentioned in an announcement. “Non-binary and transgender persons are a number of the bravest Individuals I do know. However nobody ought to need to be courageous simply to be themselves.”
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Biden, who famous that first girl Jill Biden was additionally “heartbroken” by Benedict's dying, went on to say that in her reminiscence, Individuals ought to work to deal with the “suicide disaster affecting too many non-binary and transgender youngsters.”
“Bullying is hurtful and merciless and nobody ought to need to face the bullying that Nex did,” he mentioned.
On February 8, Benedict's grandmother Sue, who was serving as her authorized guardian, known as 911 to report a head harm. In a police video of the hospital that was later launched, Benedict claimed she doused three ladies within the lavatory with water after they made enjoyable of her for the way in which she dressed.
The next day, Benedict was taken to hospital the place she died.
The Division of Training subsequently introduced on March 1 that it was investigating the college district for allegedly failing to answer “gender-based harassment.”
An post-mortem report launched Wednesday by the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Workplace discovered that Benedict died by suicide through a poisonous quantity of pharmaceutical medication.
“Because the starting of this investigation, Owasso police have seen many indications that this dying was the results of a suicide,” mentioned Owasso Police Division Lt. Nick Boatman. Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Workplace.”
In line with native ABC affiliate KOCO Information, a whole bunch of individuals marched in Benedict's honor Thursday outdoors the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma Metropolis.
Oklahoma is among the many states that ban trans procedures for minors and ban college students from utilizing loos that don't match their organic intercourse.
Some politicians have used Benedict's state of affairs as a springboard to recommend that state legal guidelines segregating faculty loos by organic intercourse led to her dying.
“The dying of Nex Benedict from a brutal assault of their highschool lavatory is outrageous and heartbreaking,” former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. he tweeted. “The anti-trans fervor fueled by excessive Republicans throughout the nation is having lethal penalties for our kids. We should rise up towards trans hate.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., additionally weighed in.
“The killing of Nex Benedict is gut-wrenching and underscores the hazard of extremists dehumanizing the youngsters of trans-trans hate in Oklahoma and throughout the nation,” Warren tweeted. “Each pupil ought to really feel secure in school and be supported for who they’re. Nex deserves justice.”
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Publish. Ship information tricks to jon.brown@christianpost.com
