#transphobic violence -

[luciferfemme]

it should deeply disturb all of us (trans or otherwise) that a cis black woman was killed for the suspicion of being trans. That is the world we are living in. Trans women of color are killed every day, and now, cis women of color who are even suspected of being trans are facing the same threat. It's terrifying to think that this just happened and I suspect it won't be the last time. I've heard many a story of cis women being harassed for their "appearing trans", and it's so heartbreaking and infuriating. Please just look out for each other.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Canada's intelligence agency is warning that extremists could "inspire and encourage" serious violence against the 2SLGBTQI+ community — a threat the Canadian Security Intelligence Service says almost certainly will continue over the coming year. CSIS's comments come as provincial policies on gender-affirming surgeries and pronoun preferences are being hotly debated across the country. "CSIS assesses that the violent threat posed by the anti-gender movement is almost certain to continue over the coming year and that violent actors may be inspired by the University of Waterloo attack to carry out their own extreme violence against the 2SLGBTQI+ community or against other targets they view as representing the gender ideology 'agenda,'" said CSIS spokesperson Eric Balsam in an email to CBC News.

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

[bnyrbt]

The leader of the Choctaw Nation is joining an outpouring of support for the family of a 16-year-old student whose death is being investigated in Oklahoma.

Nex Benedict passed away on February 8, following a physical altercation at a high school the day prior. Chief Gary Batton confirmed that the young student’s mother is enrolled with the Choctaw Nation.

“The loss of a child is always difficult for a community and a family to accept,” Batton said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Although Nex does not appear to be affiliated with our tribe, their mother, Sue Benedict, is a registered member,” Batton continued. “Nex’s death weighs heavily on the hearts of the Choctaw people. We pray Nex’s family and their loved ones will find comfort,” Batton concluded.

Nex’s death has directed widespread attention to Oklahoma, where Republican officials have increasingly adopted policies hindering the rights and freedoms of Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ people. Sue Benedict has embraced her child’s gender identity and has vowed to donate funds to other youth experiencing some of the same struggles.

Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ advocates incorrectly identified Nex as being a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, whose reservation borders that of the Choctaw Nation. Cherokee Chief Hoskin Jr. expressed support for the Benedict family on Tuesday.

“As Chief, the health and welfare of all children within the Cherokee Nation Reservation is of concern,” Hoskin said in a statement.

Nex attended Owasso High School in Owasso, located on the Cherokee Reservation. Local authorities are investigating the death and have said they will forward the results of the investigation to prosecutors in Tulsa County for potential action.

Hoskin has offered the support of the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service as the investigation continues. The Owasso Police Department indicated in a statement on Tuesday that interviews would be taking place “over the course of the next two weeks.”

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), a Republican who happens to be a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, has not spoken publicly about the death. He has repeatedly derided efforts to address diversity, equity and inclusion as discriminatory.

But a senior official with President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has weighed in. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre offered a message of support from the administration in a post on social media.

“Every young person deserves to feel safe and supported at school,” Jean-Pierre wrote on her official government account. “Our hearts are with Nex Benedict’s family, their friends, and their entire school community in the wake of this horrific tragedy.”

“For many LGBTQI+ students across the country, this may feel personal and deeply painful,” Jean-Pierre continued. “There is always someone you can talk to if you’re going through a hard time. Dial 988 and press 3 to reach a counselor dedicated to serving LGBTQI+ young people.

According to the 2023 LGBTQ+ Youth Report, a project of Human Rights Campaign and the University of Connecticut, more than half of transgender and gender-expansive youth feel unsafe at school. In particular, nearly a third said they feel unsafe in school restrooms.

“All students, including trans and gender-expansive students like Nex, have the right to feel safe and protected while attending school,” Tori Cooper, the campaign director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative at the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement on Wednesday. “That Nex was only 16 years old compounds this tragic injustice and they should have lived to see a fulfilling and authentic life.”

The 2023 study was based on a survey of nearly 3,000 LGBTQ+ youth ages 13-18 nationwide, according to the organization. Some 0.6 percent of respondents identified themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native.

According to Owasso Public Schools, a “physical altercation” took place in a bathroom at the high school on February 7. The Owasso police responded to a local hospital on the same day of the incident.

Police then said they were informed that a “juvenile” was taken back to a hospital on February 8, the same day as Nex’s passing.

[nonbinarymlm]

I wish there were more posts on malgendering sharing many different trans experiences. I think every trans person (and likely other LGBTQIA+ and GNC folk) have experiences with it and it’s so insidious.

So. This is going to be an open post for LGBTQIA+ folk, particularly trans and intersex folk, to talk about your experiences with malgendering.

Malgendering is when you’re gendered correctly, but that gendering is treated negatively or used to justify bad treatment. It could include a wide range of behaviors, from trying to silence trans people who discuss their experiences from before coming out to being passive aggressive about gendering someone correctly to using a trans person’s gender so justify violence.

Do you have any experiences with Malgendering that you’d like to share? Aspects of it that you want others to understand? Would you prefer being misgendered or malgendered? This is a post to share your experiences and thoughts! (While respecting others.)

[emotional-moss]

warning for extremely transphobic language!

on the surprisingly common idea that terfs/“gender critical” folks support trans men and don’t actually hate us, they just see us as misguided women and something to pity, and still include us in their feminism:

“It takes a complete lack of empathy to say  you’re including trans men in the liberation of “females”, when you call them things like,  “mutilated”, and “disgusting”. “Surgical mutants,” “a young lesbian … with a rancid cavity attached  to a likely twisted and depraved man’s body”. Fuck you. Like…fuck you. […] It becomes very clear that the gender  critical movement holds extreme animosity and disgust for trans men, despite  their claims that they support them for being adult human females.”

— “Gender Critical: Recruitment” by Caelan Conrad

[transvarmint]

Rest in Power Morgan Moore

Morgan Moore died May 10, 2022, at age 17 at his home in Montgomery Village. His passing is just now being recognized as one of the violent deaths of transgender people in 2022, as some media reports at the time of his death misgendered him. Police and paramedics were called to his home, where they found him unresponsive. He weighed only 79 pounds, and his father and mother, Dominique and Cynthia Moore, said he hadn’t seen a doctor in two years, according to local media and the Disability Day of Mourning website. He had diabetes and multiple sclerosis and was suffering from long-term effects of COVID-19. He had lost the ability to walk and had an abscess on his back. Morgan was out as transgender, but not all family members recognized or respected his identity.

"He was 'a celebrated artist, self taught guitarist, cook, keyboard player, gamer and all around great person,' according to an online tribute page. He had expressed a wish to travel to Japan."

“I just want my brother to be remembered as the artist and the person he was,” one sibling told the Fox station. “He was as good person, and I want people who are transphobic and not accepting of their children to accept their kids for who they are and love them no matter what.” The local medical examiner did not officially classify Morgan’s death as a homicide until April. Then in May, his parents were both charged with second-degree murder and six counts of neglect of a minor. “What happened to Morgan was inhumane,” said a statement from Tori Cooper, director of community engagement for the Human Rights Campaign’s Transgender Justice Initiative. “Morgan deserved the same respect and love from his parents as he received from his siblings, who were such a loving support in his life."

"Morgan’s beautiful memory is a reminder to all of us that we need to do better. Folks living with disabilities, Black and Brown people, and transgender people require the same love and respect that is given so freely to the many who take it for granted. We’ll remember Morgan as the bright artist and good person that he was.”

[enbycrip]

I am begging literally anyone in the media to ask Sunak to apologise to Brianna Ghey’s parents for the *material* part his actions have played in their daughter’s murder by making transphobic violence habitually consequence-free.

He’s never going to apologise to them for his sick transphobic joke because that would mean admitting transphobia is wrong, and other than drowning refugees, accelerating climate change and selling the remnants of the British state off to his mates on the cheap, it’s one of the few policy platforms he actually has.

Just make anyone who is considering voting for him face even momentarily that his actions have consequences and that to do that is voting for more dead kids like Brianna. Make that connection explicitly for the millions of cis people out there who don’t see it.

It won’t reach him because he, as a Tory politician, has no soul, but it might reach *someone*.

[bubonickitten]

Another thing I think is worth discussing:

Transphobic and other anti-LGBTQ+ violence perpetuated by, against, and among youth isn't just a matter of punishing the aggressors for their actions.

Adults throughout the U.S. -- school administrators, school boards, lawmakers, etc. -- have actively and willfully created an environment where LGBTQ+ (particularly trans and nonbinary) youth are dehumanized by not only institutions and the adults that run them, but by their peers.

They effectively deny kids the right to do something as basic as use the bathroom. They ban teachers from using the names and pronouns of trans/nb youth. They create policies requiring schools to notify parents when kids express LGBTQ+ identity (which puts those kids at risk of isolation, abuse, and "conversion" attempts if their families are transphobic or homophobic). They challenge and ban books by and/or about LGBTQ+ people (again: especially trans/nonbinary people), invoking "parents' rights." This not only infringes on (most importantly imo) kids' basic right to read, but also infringes on other parents' rights, dictating how they raise their children by removing anything they deem "inappropriate" from school libraries and curricula.

They have sent a message to LGBTQ+ youth themselves through these actions -- "you are unwanted; you are unwelcome; we do not see you as children worthy of an education and basic human decency, but as boogeymen and the embodiment of the types of people we hate." This erodes the mental health of and contributes to the already disproportionately high rates of self-harm and suicide among LGBTQ+ youth.

But these adults have also sent a corresponding message to straight, cisgender youth that their LGBTQ+ peers are to be silenced, denied humanity, and eliminated from any space they occupy at any cost (whether that means bullying them into the closet and locking the door, or using violence or ostracism to silence the ones who cannot or do not hide their identities).

There's also a broader discussion to be had about how the criminal justice system deals with violence perpetrated by minors: punitive vs. rehabilitative approaches; accounting for the developmental stage of the minor(s) in question while still centering and ensuring justice for the victim(s); discriminatory practices in conviction and sentencing (as well as whether someone is tried as a juvenile or an adult), particularly with regards to race and class.

But, point is, I don't think we can stop anti-LGBTQ+ and other hate-based violence and bullying by focusing on the individual perpetrators involved in each instance, or addressing it on a case-by-case basis. The adults in charge are (whether implicitly or explicitly) sending the message that all LGBTQ+ people, including LGBTQ+ kids, are -- in the words of Oklahoma State Senator Tom Woods referring to Nex Benedict -- "filth". At the end of the day, these are grown adults bullying and abusing literal children. They can't absolve themselves of responsibility when those kids' peers mirror that hate.

[americanphysco]

The first incident played out at an apartment complex in Richmond, Indiana, on the afternoon of June 30. Police say that Tommy Wayne Earl, 67, told them he looked out the window of his fourth-floor apartment and spotted Michelle Dionne Peacock, a neighbor he disliked, sitting at a gazebo with another person.

Earl told investigators he’d “had enough” and went out to confront Peacock with a straight razor, allegedly slicing her throat in such a way that she bled out before she could be moved from the scene, according to a detective’s sworn affidavit that was obtained by HuffPost.

In talks with investigators, Earl referred to the victim as “a male acting like a woman,” the affidavit said.

But Peacock was a 59-year-old cisgender woman.

Incidents like this are not new and will only continue to get worse as more and more transphobic bills get passed. Your transphobia hurts everybody. Your transphobia has the potential to kill anybody. And you sick fucks think that violence is acceptable simply because you do not understand how another person chooses to live. Grow the fuck up.

[transenbyconfessions]

To all my trans folk in Pittsburgh please be careful April 18th. If you haven’t heard a transphobic speaker is coming to Pitt and I’m worried that could put all of us at a safety risk. I haven’t seen the date online anywhere so I wanted to share it here.

Submitted March 27, 2023

[fiapple]

“This article contains descriptions of fatal violence against a nonbinary person.

River Nevaeh Goddard, a nonbinary 17-year-old, was found dead in their boyfriend’s house earlier this month. Goddard’s boyfriend, 20-year-old Shane Curry, was charged in connection with their death after telling police that he had stabbed them with a sword. According to Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents, Goddard was nonbinary and used she and they pronouns.

On April 3, 2024, police were called to Curry’s home in Stow, Massachusetts for a well-being check, per a press release from Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office obtained by local outlet MassLive. Although Curry stopped officers from coming inside the home for nearly two hours, when police finally entered, they found Goddard dead inside and arrested Curry, taking him to a local hospital for evaluation. Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents reports that the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children had listed them as a missing child since April 2022, when Goddard was 15.”

Note: As a result of the antiblack racism that often gets perpetuated in these circumstances by my fellow white lgbt+ people, I am going to explicitly ask that you do not use “rest in power” in the notes of this post. The phrase is Black-exclusive for very clear reasons, and this should not have to be continually explained. Nor should it be the sole responsibility of Black lgbt+ people to point this out while also mourning the deaths in our community themselves. Do not turn this into an opportunity to further hurt people.

[seriousposting]

The Crime

Nex Benedict (they/them) was a 16-year-old nonbinary youth living in Oklahoma. They endured a reportedly vicious beating in a high school bathroom of Owasso High School, Nex died the next day in the hospital. They were a sophomore. This was February 7 and 8th. Last week, Nex was in high school. This week, they were buried.

According to KJRH

Three older girls were beating on the victim and her daughter in the girl’s bathroom. “I know at one point, one of the girls was pretty much repeatedly beating their head across the floor,” she said. That’s when she said a teacher walked in and broke it up. “Nex couldn’t walk to the nurses’ station on their own, and staff didn’t call the ambulance, which amazes me,” she said.The woman told 2 News the victim’s grandmother, who they primarily lived with, brought them to the hospital after the fight. She said the victim was released that evening but was brought back the next day and died.

Local police are investigating, but have not issued a statement or identified the victim. There is also no confirmation may of the details – how many students were involved in the assault, how many victims, what was the sequence of events, what’s been Nex’s school experience. We don’t know that being nonbinary is what triggered the assault.

We do know that nonbinary identity is often a factor or predictor of vulnerability to bullying and abuse.

Honoring Nex

Nex was born on January 11, 2008, in El Paso, Texas. They grew up in Owasso, Oklahoma. Nex was a sophomore at Owasso High School. According to family, Nex identified as nonbinary and used they/them pronouns.

According to the obituary, Nex was a nature lover. They enjoyed caring for cats but particularly loved their cat, Zeus. Nex also enjoyed watching the Walking Dead, drawing, reading, and playing Ark and Minecraft. During the funeral, their family said they loved to cook and would often make up their own recipes. Nex was also a straight-A student.

I have not yet found any online presence for Nex.

Funeral Service were at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 15, 2024, at the Mowery Funeral Service Chapel in Owasso. You can read Nex obituary, but note that it refers to Nex using she/her pronouns

The Context

We also do not yet know the school’s policies, BUT it is fair to assume that they have a policy of some type that requires them to file incident reports around student violence. Furthermore, the decision to send a school based police officer to take the report at the hospital reinforces that conclusion. I expect any student experiencing that level of violence would stay with medical personnel until a family member picked them up or they were transported to the hospital. Those are basic liability issues, not unique to trans and queer students by any means.

Tell me again how in-school resource officers are effective if they don’t respond to this level of vicious violence until they get a call after school hours? Not these particular officers, per se, but the whole concept. Who was protecting Nex?

These are not extreme policies. They are pretty common. But we can definitely expect that school personnel had an obligation to address the situation before Nex went home.

Nex’s sister-in-law created a GoFundMe to raise $15,000 for the funeral scheduled for February 15.

Also unclear is why this teacher who allegedly broke it up didn’t ensure appropriate medical care on-site OR notify the police. Or the school nurse. Maybe they did? The ways that this situation deteriorated once the school was aware are endless.

Owasso Public Schools released the following statement regarding the student’s death:

“The Owasso Police Department has notified district leaders of the death of an Owasso High School student. The student’s name and cause of death have not yet been made public. As this is an active police investigation, we will have no additional comment at this time. Further inquiries should be directed to the Owasso Police Department.” “The district will have additional counselors at the school to provide support to students and staff beginning on Friday.” Owasso Public Schools

How is that not national news? A 16 year old beaten to death in a public school bathroom? By other students. All these unanswered seemingly obvious questions about what transpired, and how the adults involved acted. That should be every headline.

In fact, almost every local outlet covering the story misgender and deadnames Nex, using their same assigned at birth. The indignities pile on.

We don’t yet know if Nex’s nonbinary identity is directly tied to this incident. But, my God, it sure matters to me that this would happen to any child. A nonbinary kid assaulted in a girl’s bathroom. That outcome from the narrative of anti-trans rhetoric these past years.

Still why wasn’t this story breaking news? It involves a nonbinary student in a public school. And school violence and school police resource officers. It involves the deep fear so many trans youth have shared with me about their schools.

But false reports that the now dead shooter who invaded Joel Olsteen’s megachurch was transgender have consumed the headlines. That shooter was killed by police. Her 5 year old son was injured in the shooting. No other fatalities reported. Her identity as a cisgender woman has been clarified repeatedly, but that hasn’t stopped the false narrative.

That woman went into a church with an assault weapon and her young child. That’s horrible and newsworthy on its own. Still, the headlines fixate on the allegation she was a trans person. She was not a trans person, but the headlines stay fixated. The juxtaposition is jarring, but not new.

The shooting took place on February 11. Nex died on February 8.

Where are the these people when it comes to demanding truth about Nex’s death? Where is the outrage that any child has this experience? Who the hell is protecting other kids in that school from this outcome?

Does the media really prefer to spread misinformation about the trans community and turn a blind eye to trans victims of violence? Of course they do.

Rest in power, Nex. You endured a lot in your short life. We repeatedly did not show up for you. But you deserved better – a long, healthy, and happy life. The opportunity to simply grow up. An education setting where you didn’t fear for your life. And you deserve to be acknowledged and validated for your true identity, in your own words. I can’t imagine your terror during this assault and afterwards as your life drained away. I hope you find peace and justice now.

May your memory be a revolution.

Update – this post has been undated to correct a misspelling of Nex’s name and a reference to their name assigned at birth. One was simply a typo, but the other was inaccurate and I very much regret the harm that caused.

[boatcats]

Didn't want to derail this post about going through TSA while trans with my own anecdote but. One time I went through their stupid machine and it alerted regarding some part of my anatomy and the TSA guy asked me "Did I push the wrong button?"

Well. I didn't know what button he pushed (there was no way for me to see). And I'm usually kind of nervous and extra polite/friendly in these sorts of situations as a defense mechanism. But I'm also not great at coddling stupid questions. So I said "I don't know. Did you?"

And he stared at me for a moment. He asked "May I?" Then he gently put a hand against my tits as though giving them a benediction and let me go through.

[emotional-moss]

literally in conservatives’ eyes all trans people are the worst kind of trans people. feminine trans guys who don’t go on T or surgery are actually just cis girls fetishizing gay men and are faking being trans for attention. big hairy trans guys with beards and deep voices are creepy mean predatory guys who Mutilated™️ their bodies. hyperfem trans girls with dresses and feminizing surgeries are fetishizing womanhood and are actually creepy sexual cross dressers. masculine trans girls with 5 o’ clock shadows and body hair are disgusting men who invade lesbian spaces and “don’t even make an effort to pass”. nonbinary afab folks are gross girls trying to appear superior to womanhood and nonbinary amab folks are predatory fetishizers trying to invade  Real Trans spaces. neopronoun and xenogender folks are nasty cis people misinterpreting transness and cringe gross weirdos. moral of the story is fuck around with gender and fuck around with bigots, because bigots aren’t gonna like you regardless. trying to make your identity palatable and respectable very rarely works, and when it does, it’s able to be revoked the Moment you do something “weird” or “cringe” or “gross.” you can do whatever you want forever and i love you for it.

[bnyrbt]

Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old Oklahoma high school sophomore, was beaten by three girl classmates in the bathroom of Owasso High School on Feb. 7. On Feb. 8, Nex – who identified within the Two Spirit, transgender, and gender nonconforming (2STGNC) umbrella – was declared dead at the hospital.

Now LGBTQ+ Oklahomans are mourning the loss of a straight-A student, a Minecraft fan, and animal lover – a teenager – in a school district previously targeted by Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik; Raichik now sits on the statewide library advisory board. In 2023, Oklahoma censured the state’s only nonbinary representative — not to mention signing into law a bill forcing public school students to use the bathroom associated with their gender assigned at birth; advocates are currently closely watching several anti-trans pieces of legislation.

Before Benedict’s name was made public, a source who claimed to be the mother of Benedict’s best friend told a local outlet the cause of death was “complications from brain trauma,” and that “three older girls were beating the victim and her daughter in the girl’s bathroom.” (We are not linking because the story uses Benedict’s deadname. According to Freedom Oklahoma, it’s not presently clear which pronouns Benedict used, so this story will refrain from using pronouns for Nex.) The anonymous source also alleged that Benedict couldn’t “walk to the nurses’ station” without assistance and that the school did not call an ambulance, while the school claims they were unaware of the fight until informed by a parent; on Feb. 20, the school backtracked, acknowledging that students saw the school nurse after the fight.

Texts allegedly sent by Nex after the fight to a family member, published by an Owasso Fox affiliate on the 20th, began, “I got jumped at school 3 on 1 had to go to the ER… They had been bullying me and my friends and I got tired of it so I poured some water on them and all 3 came after me. School did not report to the police and is probably getting sued [redacted].”

Benedict’s grandmother Sue, who also adopted Nex, brought Nex to the hospital after the fight, then home again; the next day, Nex was brought back to the hospital and was pronounced dead. Sue told The Independent that Nex was suspended for two weeks from school on the day of the fight; Sue also mentioned that Nex had been bullied throughout this school year.

“Nex did not see themselves as male or female. Nex saw themselves right down the middle. I was still learning about it, Nex was teaching me that,” Benedict told The Independent. “I was so proud of Nex. They were going some place, they were so free.”

Multiple outlets and individuals, including Oklahoma newscaster Wendy Suarez, as well as Freedom Oklahoma, the state’s LGBTQ+ advocacy org, connected Benedict’s death to the appointment of Raichik, who’s been accused of “stochastic terrorism," to the state’s “Library Media Advisory Committee” in January by the state’s Secretary of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters. According to the Independent, a “teacher who Nex had greatly admired” resigned in 2022 after Raichik targeted them on social media. Raichik has denied any responsibility in Benedict’s death, and has instead misgendered Nex repeatedly in social posts. As for Walters, in a 2023 video released by the Oklahoma Department of Education, he utilized transphobic rhetoric. He has also banned students from changing their gender on school records.

“All 2SLGBTQ+ Oklahomans deserve the safety to thrive,” reads in part Freedom Oklahoma’s statement about Nex Benedict’s death. “And that is becoming increasingly difficult, especially for 2SLGBTQ+ youth in Oklahoma schools who face a growing list of targeted harms from bans on access to playing sports that align with their gender, to single sex bathroom and changing room restrictions that further ostracize and endanger students, non-consensual outing by school officials, shrinking access to safe adults at schools because of mandatory outing policies, censorship in school libraries that results in less 2SLGBTQ+ representation, chilled speech that makes 2SLGBTQ+ identities all but erased in school spaces at all, and a list of newly proposed harms making their way through this session with rhetoric that drives 2SLGBTQ+ hate, especially hatred of and harms towards 2STGNC+ people.”

Some outlets reported that Nex Benedict was a member of the Cherokee Nation. On Feb. 20, Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr., the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, issued a statement clarifying that “Upon searching our database, we have no indication that Nex was a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. However, Nex was a child living within our reservation and deserved love, support, and to be kept safe.” The Independent’s coverage of Nex’s death claims the family “trace[s] part of their roots to the Choctaw Nation.”

For days following the attack, there was little news released on Nex’s identity, let alone identifying Nex as the child involved. On Feb. 20, as news media caught onto the story, both Owasso Public Schools and the Owasso Police Department issued an update on the investigation into Nex’s death, claiming they were still confirming the cause of death, and with the school district stating they are cooperating with authorities. The unnamed parent of Benedict’s friend claimed in the above-referenced interview that "at one point, one of the girls was pretty much repeatedly beating [Benedict’s] head across the floor."

“All of this takes place within the context of a Legislative session where Oklahoma policy makers are seeking to worsen the sense of isolation, erasure, and targeted harm 2SLGBTQ+ students face in an already hostile school environment,” wrote Nicole McAfee of Freedom Oklahoma in an Instagram post on Feb. 19, detailing a weeks’ worth of anti-LGBTQ legislation up for consideration in the state.

On Feb. 19, State Rep. Mauree Turner, Oklahoma’s only nonbinary representative, held a moment of silence for Benedict on the state house floor. In a video of the moment, Quorum Call reporter Tyler Talley observed that “while many members did quiet, some [members] continued with their conversations.” Last spring, Rep. Turner was censured within the Oklahoma state legislature for allowing a protester at a trans rights protest in the House to shelter in their office.

“Every day I get more angry that we, politicians, no matter your party affiliation are aiding in a transgenocide,” Rep. Turner wrote in a statement posted to their Instagram. “I think about how after I read Nex’s obituary on the house floor, a Democrat came to me and said well we don’t know if they actually died because of the beating… But we absolutely do. Nex’ death is a direct result of a failed administration in a public school that didn’t value the life of a trans student. A failed administration that was empowered by a failed local government who has created open season, and more specifically a transgenocide in Oklahoma.”

A GoFundMe launched by the family has recently surpassed $75,000. (Nex’s deadname is listed on the GoFundMe, which the family has called an accident.) Sue Benedict told the Independent the funds will “go to children dealing with the right to be who they feel they are.”

“Nex had a light in them that was so big, they had so many dreams. I want their light to keep shining for everyone,” she told the Independent. “That light was so big and bright and beautiful, and I want everyone to remember Nex that way.”

[pugetsoundsocialistrifle]

It would be very simple for us to say:

“We condemn this most recent violent attack on the LGBTQIA+ community and we condemn all attacks of this kind. We support the right of LGBTQIA+ people to defend themselves.”

This is an accurate statement, but that is not all there is to it.

In recent times, every time that the fascists do something horrible, we get a sudden increase in membership.

The aftermath of the Club Q shooting was no different.

This is probably inevitable for an organization dedicated to self-defense. It’s just like how everyone wants to earthquake-proof their home after an earthquake hits. And these days, it feels like everyone is worried about what we’ll do when The Big One hits (earthquake or otherwise).

The fascists want to scare you, but it’s only when you are scared that you are truly brave.

It’s OK to be scared. Acknowledge it, but don’t let it paralyze you.

The fascists are a danger to you, but it’s only when you are truly in danger that you fight the hardest.

We will all keep fighting for a future where LGBTQIA+ people will have safety and respect.

To every LGBTQIA+ comrade, we love you.

To every LGBTQIA+ comrade who is no longer with us, we miss you.

– The Puget Sound Socialist Rifle Association