Office For Civil Rights Declares Investigation Into Owasso Public Schools Over Nex Benedict

The United States Department of Education Office For Civil Rights has opened an investigation into potential Title II and Title IX violations over the death of transgender teen, Nex Benedict.

In a letter released Friday evening to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the United States Department of Education Office For Civil Rights has declared a formal investigation into alleged Title IX violations at Owasso Public Schools. They are also investigating potential Section 504 violations and Title II violations under the Americans with Disabilities act. This is in response to a letter alleging a pattern of abuse, bullying, and harassment of LGBTQ+ people at the school, and the impact this might have played into transgender teen of Choctaw heritage Nex Benedict’s death.

The letter states that it will look into two potential avenues under which violations of student’s civil rights might have occurred:

1. Whether the District failed to appropriately respond to alleged harassment of students in a manner consistent with the requirements of Title IX.

2. Whether the District failed to appropriately respond to alleged harassment of students in a manner consistent with the requirements of Section 504 and Title II.

The letter comes after a formal complaint from HRC asking for an investigation into the school as well as superintendent Ryan Walters. HRC alleges “Nex’s death is the natural consequence” of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments perpetuated, in part, by attempts to paint transgender and nonbinary people in girl’s bathrooms as inherently predatory. According to HRC, Nex first began being bullied shortly after the state’s transgender bathroom ban was signed into law.

“We are deeply concerned about the failure of Owasso High School to address documented instances of bullying, violence, and harassment against Nex, which occurred in earnest over the course of the previous school year and were in violation of Nex’s rights under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972,” says the complaint from HRC.

This is the first federal response to the death of Nex Benedict in Oklahoma that has been made public. According to HRC, other efforts to bring a federal response to discrimination in Owasso Public Schools are still underway. These efforts include a second letter asking the department to open a full investigation into discriminatory practices by Superintendent Ryan Walters. Ryan Walters, the complaint notes, has recently appointed Chaya Raichik from Libs of TikTok, whose posts were followed by threats to a teacher in Nex’s school district who he admired. They also include a call for a Department of Justice investigation into Nex’s death.

State Superintendent Ryan Walters has recently come under fire for fundraising with an anti-LGBTQ+ extremist, Ron Causby, who urged his daughters to “kick the shit” out of transgender people if he encountered them in the bathroom.

In a statement provided by HRC, HRC President Kelly Robinson says of the letter, “Nex’s family, community, and the broader 2SLGBTQI+ (two spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex+)  community in Oklahoma are still awaiting answers following their tragic loss. We appreciate the Department of Education responding to our complaint and opening an investigation–we need them to act urgently so there can be justice for Nex, and so that all students at Owasso High School and every school in Oklahoma can be safe from bullying, harassment, and discrimination.”