The Scene staff
Recently, multiple laws have been passed or proposed to take away basic human rights, harming minority groups.
While some of them may seem unbelievable, they’re all meant to undermine anybody who isn’t able-bodied, cis, heterosexual or male.
One of the laws is being proposed in Tennessee.
It specifically targets disabled people by prohibiting service dogs at restaurants. If passed, it will likely harm its blind population, along with other disabled people.
Another absurd proposal comes from our very own state.
Missouri’s legislators are trying to pass a bill that could put teachers, social workers and others in danger. It states that using a minor’s preferred pronouns could get them charged with a felony, and if convicted, they could end up with their names on a sex-offender registry.
Being a disabled, nonbinary person myself, meaning I go by they/them pronouns instead of she/her or he/him, I feel it’s important to acknowledge this injustice. Those of us under the trans umbrella, who do not fit societies expectations on what gender should be, are beaten and discarded while those with uteruses are having their rights stolen due to religious extremism.
Even without these laws, we endure so many challenges.
Many people shrug off things they don’t understand while others argue. Our rights are constantly being rejected, and our lives are made worse by ignorance.
Puberty blockers, another necessity, have been made inaccessible to trans youth despite their appearance in the 1980s and accessibility to children in 1993. Long before being prescribed to transgender people, they were administered to children with “precocious puberty,” a diagnosis applied to those experiencing puberty too early.
So, what does transphobia mean to you? Is it just a term with a suffix indicating a fear of transgender people? Or does it encompass the disrespect and ostracization directed at this community through constant harassment?
I’ll take it a step further and give an example of how it can reflect pure hatred.
Tragedy struck on Feb. 8 in Owasso, Oklahoma, claiming the life of Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old nonbinary student with a stellar academic record. The day before, the teen had fallen victim to a horrible attack by three classmates in a public bathroom.
In Oklahoma, anti-trans laws require people to only use restrooms based on their “birth genders.” That puts trans and nonbinary students in a dilemma, torn between following or breaking the rules.
Choosing to comply with the law to avoid conflict, Nex went into the “appropriate” restroom at school on Feb. 7 but still faced harassment from classmates.
Nex told authorities that three girls were making fun of them. In retaliation, they poured water on one of the bullies. That led to a brutal beating in which Nex’s head was slammed into a hand dryer. They fell to the floor before their head was repeatedly smashed against the restroom’s tiles for approximately two minutes.
The assault only came to a stop when faculty and a few students intervened. But what happened next was equally distressing.
Disregarding Nex’s injuries and the unprovoked attack, the teacher dragged the teen to the office, resulting in a two-week suspension without medical attention and no opportunity to file a police report.
Nex’s family sought emergency services at the hospital. During an initial visit, they insisted on filing a police report, and an officer agreed to take it. But he felt it best to warn them that other parties in the fight could file reports, and Nex could be held responsible.
While on camera, the officer stated that Nex was “the one who initiated it essentially” by pouring water onto the girls. However, according to Tulsa attorney Clark Brewster, this action doesn’t legally constitute assault, defined as an act that causes a reasonable fear of imminent harm or death.
Nex was swiftly discharged from the hospital. But the teen’s family later realized that additional medical care was needed. They called 911, and paramedics performed CPR before taking Nex back to the hospital, where they sadly passed away shortly after.
The school and police have remained largely silent on the matter. The Tulsa County medical examiner ruled Nex’s death a suicide from drug overdose, and the district attorney’s office is declining to press charges against the girls, calling the fight an “instance of mutual combat.”
But Nex’s family has made it clear that the bathroom assault was a culmination of relentless bullying that they endured over their gender identity.
It’s a struggle shared by many transgender and nonbinary people in recent years, especially with more and more states passing anti-trans laws.
Conversations with right-leaning transphobes often involve blame-shifting onto victims or the outright denial of such incidents. They tend to dismiss the suffering of transgender people, deny their existence altogether or peddle unfounded notions about grooming.
Some even claim transgender people suffer from a mental illness that needs to be corrected.
And, because of incidents like the death of Nex Benedict, one question persists: How much pain and loss must a community endure before society opens its eyes, embraces empathy and puts an end to all of this hatred?
As a community, it’s our job to push past these harmful notions that not only hurt but take the lives of innocent people.
kyWe need to better educate ourselves and those around us, or else we will continue to see history repeat itself. We have the means to be better and do better, so if one of us falls, it’s all of our faults.