Oklahoma governor calls nonbinary student’s death a ‘tragedy’

Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt called the recent death of a 16-year-old nonbinary student a tragedy and condemned bullying as officials continue to investigate the situation.

Nex Benedict, a sophomore at Owasso High School in the suburbs of Tulsa, died earlier this month one day after a fight in a school restroom that may have begun due to bullying over gender identity, The Associated Press reported.

“There’s no bullying allowed in Oklahoma. We’re gonna prosecute that,” Stitt said at POLITICO’s Governors Summit on Thursday. “I think they’re still investigating how it happened, but it’s an absolute tragedy.”

Although the cause of death has not been determined, Owasso police said in a statement preliminary autopsy results indicate the teen did not die as a result of injuries sustained in the fight.

Benedict was able to walk out of the bathroom after the Feb. 7 fight but was taken to a hospital by their family and sent home that night. The next day, paramedics were dispatched to the home for a medical emergency and took Benedict to a hospital emergency room, where they later died, police said.

Benedict’s family said the teen faced harassment due to their gender identity. They received bruises all over their face after they and a transgender student got into a fight with three older girls.

The family was still becoming familiar with using Benedict’s preferred name and pronouns, according to AP.

“Please do not judge us as Nex was judged, please do not bully us for our ignorance on the subject,” Sue Benedict, Nex Benedict’s mother, said in a statement on a GoFundMe page set up to help cover funeral expenses. “Nex gave us that respect and we are sorry in our grief that we overlooked them.”

During the summit, Stitt also expressed support for a push in Oklahoma to establish the country’s first religious school that would be fully funded by the public. Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general has filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court to stop the school board from establishing the charter school, with oral arguments to begin April 2.

Oklahoma allows parents to use public funds to cover private education, created through the passage of a bill in the state legislature in November. Stitt made an analogy to government benefits such as Medicaid and SNAP, public funds that can be used at a location of choice.

“Education should not be any different. There’s no ‘we’re gonna force you to go to this ZIP code school,’” Stitt said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.