LGBTQ activists blame anti-trans legislation for Nex Benedict’s death: ‘We warned you’

As Oklahoma lawmakers introduced dozens of anti-LGBTQ bills last year, local advocacy groups had a warning.

“We were saying, ‘this is going to cost queer and trans kids their lives’,” Kylan Durant, president of the Oklahoma Pride Alliance, told The Independent in an interview.

“We tried to warn you and no one took it seriously and now here we are.”

Oklahoma’s anti-LGBTQ laws have come under scrutiny after the death of non-binary high school sophomore Nex Benedict, 16, on 8 February.

Nex collapsed at home with three girls in a bathroom at Owasso High School. Nex told a family member they had been “jumped” after standing up to bullies,