Trans Student Nex Benedict's School District Under Investigation by Department of Education

His Department Education has launched an investigation into the death of Oklahoma teenager Nex Benedict, who died on February 6 — a day after the brawl in the school's girls' bathroom.

Friends and family said Benedict, who was 16, used the pronouns he and him as well as they and them. Relatives of the 10th grader said Benedict was bullied because of their gender identity. His death has drawn national attention as activists and transgender students have blamed the state's antagonistic policies around transgender students for the tragedy.

The investigation comes after Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Kelley Robinson sent letters to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Attorney General Merrick Garland, calling on their respective agencies to launch investigations into the circumstances of Benedict's death.

In addressing Cardona, Robinson urged the Department of Education to “investigate whether Owasso High School unlawfully failed to address the discrimination and harassment that Nex suffered,” while also calling on the department to conduct a Title IX compliance investigation of the school .

Robinson also urged Garland to use the “tools available to the Department of Justice to address anti-LGBTQ+ hate and violence, including conducting an investigation into hate crimes and possible charges that could help the perpetrators of these horrific acts against of Nex to account for their hatred. – fueled the violence.” The letter also pressed the DOJ to work with the Department of Education to “support its assessment of violations of Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause.”

In the letter from the Ministry of Education sharing HRC's investigation Friday, highlighted that the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) was looking into whether the district “failed to respond appropriately to the alleged student harassment in a manner consistent” with the requirements of Title IX and Section 504 (the Rehabilitation Act). and title II (of the Americans with Disabilities Act).

In a statement to Rolling rockOwasso Public Schools confirmed it was notified of the investigation and said “the district is committed to cooperating with federal officials and believes the complaint filed by HRC is unsupported by the facts and without merit.”

The high school student was walking to Owasso High School on Feb. 7 when he got into a fight with three older girls. Benedict told officers and medical personnel that he blacked out during the fight, and released footage from the school's hallways also shows him swaying slightly as he walked toward the administration offices. A day after the fight, Benedict collapsed and was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

In late February, Benedict's friends and classmates walked out of class to protest their school's policies and culture around bullying. “There were issues of bullying. This time, the bullying has gone so far that a student has passed,” said Kane, a strike organizer. NBC News. “To me, it doesn't matter if Nex went through traumatic brain injury or if he went through suicide. What matters is the fact that they died after being bullied, and that is the story for so many other students. I almost ended it myself due to bullying. It's not new to so many students.”