Oklahoma transgender student dies after allegedly assaulted by students at school

Oklahoma transgender student dies after allegedly assaulted by students at school

There's an outcry in Oklahoma after the death of a transgender student that has sparked demands for answers.
CHRISTOPHER WIGGINS
FEBRUARY 20 2024 12:56 PM EST

In Oklahoma, the death of a transgender student after they were assaulted in a school bathroom has sparked widespread outrage and sorrow. Nex Benedict, a sophomore at Owasso High School, was brutally beaten by other students earlier this month and died the following day. The incident has drawn national attention, with many attributing the violent act to a culture of transphobia they say is being stoked by state officials.

The assault on Benedict, 16, happened on February 7, when three older girls attacked them in the girls’ bathroom, Tulsa NBC affiliate KJRH reports. A teacher intervened to stop the fight. Staff didn't call an ambulance, the outlet noted.

Benedict's grandmother, who was their guardian, took the teenager to the hospital that day. They went back the next day after Benedict became ill. Benedict died that evening.

The grandmother, Sue Benedict, toldThe Independent that her child had been the subject of months of intensifying bullying that began earlier in 2023 after Oklahoma’s Republican-led government banned transgender students from using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

“I didn’t know how bad it had gotten,” she told the outlet.
[…]

Georgia Senator Vows to Protect Girl, But Then Runs Away After Learning She Is Trans

Georgia Senator Vows to Protect Girl, But Then Runs Away After Learning She Is Trans
During a visit to lobby legislators on transgender issues, Senator Carden Summers (R) knelt down and told a child he would protect her. When he learned she was trans, he backed away.

ERIN REED
FEB 16, 2024


Lena and Aleix speaking to Senator Summers, before he realized he was speaking to a transgender child.

On Feb. 6, a group of families met to lobby senators on issues affecting the local transgender community in Georgia. One mother, Lena Kotler, decided to take her two children with her to give the topic a human face. While waiting to meet with Democratic Sen. Kim Jackson, who they had heard was a big supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, another senator passed by — Republican Sen. Carden Summers, the primary sponsor of the state’s bathroom ban bill. Little did he know that one of the children he would be interacting with, Aleix, 8 years old, was a transgender child.

According to Kotler and other families who were present, the senator stopped to say hello. That’s when Kotler spoke to Senator Summers about how she was there with her kids to “talk to legislators about keeping her kids safe.” Although she did not mention that one of her children was trans, they were present with LGBTQ+ signage - something the Senator apparently missed when he knelt down in front of Aleix and said, according to Kotler, “Well you know, we’re working on that and I’m going to protect kids like you.”

Kotler then replied, “Yeah - Alex is trans, and she wants to be safe at school, she wants to go to the bathroom and be safe.”

That is when, according to multiple witnesses, Sen. Summers stood up and fumbled his words, repeating, "I mean, yeah, I'm going to make sure she's safe by going to the right bathroom," continuing to use the correct pronouns for Aleix. When asked if he would make her go to a boy's bathroom, he then allegedly backed away, saying, "You're attacking me," turned around, and walked off quickly.

The exchange was a unique encapsulation of why anti-trans bills that ban transgender people from public spaces that match their gender identity have proven ineffectual in the past. In numerous hearings over bathroom bans, transgender people often point out that cisgender individuals cannot always tell who is and is not trans. Enforcement of anti-trans policies like Sen. Summer's bill, which would ban transgender youth from bathrooms of their gender identity, will inevitably catch cisgender people who are gender nonconforming in the same net. Worse, it would force transgender kids into the wrong bathroom — kids who even the senator who wrote the bill innately realized he needed to protect from bathroom harassment before learning the child was trans.

[…]

The Texas megachurch shooter has not been identified as transgender, despite claims online

The Texas megachurch shooter has not been identified as transgender, despite claims online



Houston Police officers watch over displaced churchgoers outside Lakewood Church, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Houston, after a reported shooting during a Spanish church service. Social media users are falsely claiming that the shooter has been identified as transgender. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP)

BY MELISSA GOLDIN
Published 4:27 PM CST, February 13, 2024

CLAIM: The shooter who carried out an attack injuring two people at a Texas megachurch on Sunday has been identified as transgender.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Houston police said on Monday that its investigation has thus far determined that the shooter, Genesse Ivonne Moreno, identified as female despite using multiple aliases, including the name Jeffery — or Jeffrey — Escalante. Multiple court records identify Moreno as female, most recently in 2022.

THE FACTS: Amid the aftermath of Sunday’s shooting at Lakewood Church, which is led by televangelist pastor Joel Osteen, social media users spread false claims about Moreno’s gender identity.

“BREAKING: Lakewood Church shooter identified as transgender, legal name Genesse Moreno but went by the name ‘Jeffrey,’” reads one post on X, formerly Twitter, that had received approximately 9,100 likes and 6,100 shares as of Tuesday.

Others claimed that Moreno, who was fatally shot in an exchange of gunfire, had been born as Jeffery, but went by Genesse as part of her transition.

Officials have not found any evidence that Moreno was transgender. Police said she used male and female aliases, but that investigators who looked at past police reports determined she identified as female.

“We do have reports she used multiple aliases, including Jeffery Escalante,” Houston Police Commander Chris Hassig said about 19 minutes into a press conference on Monday. “So she has utilized both male and female names, but through all of our investigation to this point, talking with individuals, interviews, documents, Houston Police Department reports, she has been identified this entire time as female, she, her. And so we are identifying her as Genesse Moreno, Hispanic female.

Records in Harris County, where Houston is located, show that Moreno, under the names Jeffery G. Escalante-Moreno or Jeffery G. Escalante, was charged in six criminal cases from 2005 to 2011. She is identified as female in all of them. A case filed in nearby Katy County after Moreno’s latest arrest in April 2022 also lists her as female, but with the name Genesse Ivonne Moreno.

[…]

Transgender teen girl stabbed 14 times at roller rink birthday party

Transgender teen girl stabbed 14 times at roller rink birthday party
A teenaged girl has been charged with the stabbing, which occurred the day before the one-year anniversary of the brutal stabbing murder of Brianna Ghey.
DONALD PADGETT
FEBRUARY 14 2024 3:37 PM EST

A teenaged transgender girl was stabbed 14 times at a birthday celebration in London last weekend, and a 19-year-old girl has been arrested and charged with attempted murder in the case.

The unidentified transgender girl was attending a birthday party at the Harrow Leisure Center roller rink around 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 10, when she was allegedly subjected to transphobic abuse from a group of teenagers. Details remain unclear, but police allege Summer Betts-Ramsey stabbed the victim 14 times with a knife.

The victim was rushed to a local hospital where she was treated for her wounds. She was subsequently discharged and remains in seclusion with her family as she recovers from the attack and wounds.

Summer Betts-Ramsey and three other individuals have been arrested in connection with the crime, according to lead Detective Inspector Nicola Hannant.

“This was a shocking and violent attack and we continue to support the victim and her family as she recovers from her injuries,” Hannant said in a statement. “At this stage, we are treating this as a transphobic hate crime and we know this will cause significant concern.”

[…]

A Second Trump Term Would Be Hell for LGBTQ People

A Second Trump Term Would Be Hell for LGBTQ People
The former president's allies laid out their plan in "Project 2025."

PARKER MOLLOY
FEB 14, 2024

Hello, all. Parker here.

Like a lot of LGBTQ people, I’ve been a bit worried about what, exactly, a second Trump administration would mean for my basic rights and ability to live my life in peace. And while the Biden administration has let me down in a number of ways, the playbook being drawn up for a future Trump administration, called Project 2025, is outright terrifying for LGBTQ people.

The very first page of the 920-page Project 2025 “Mandate for Leadership” bemoans the “toxic normalization of transgenderism,” and a few pages later includes the phrase, “Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology” that “has no claim to First Amendment protections.” For one, being transgender is not an “ideology,” and information about trans people's existence is not pornography. Still, the Project 2025 document uses this definition before calling for the imprisonment of people who “produce and distribute” this "pornography.”

The document outlines ways the government can effectively ignore the Supreme Court’s landmark Bostock v. Clayton County ruling, which found that employers can’t discriminate against someone “simply for being homosexual or transgender.” In another portion, it explains how Trump could essentially legalize medical discrimination against LGBTQ people. The list goes on and on.

{…}

Block also tells me that part of the strategy will likely be for a second Trump Administration and its allies to go after cities and states with strong legal protections against LGBTQ discrimination and make the argument that those policies are preempted by federal law, which will be interpreted through the administration and conservative courts as being anti-LGBTQ. The result of this will be a country without “safe” states for LGBTQ people.

GA Hearing: Only Anti-Trans Proponents Allowed To Speak; Those Against Raise Hands

GA Hearing: Only Anti-Trans Proponents Allowed To Speak; Those Against Raise Hands
In a hearing in Georgia on Senate Bill 88, a bill that restricts LGBTQ+ curriculum in schools, Republicans only allowed people from Gays Against Groomers and Log Cabin Republicans to speak.

ERIN REED
FEB 13, 2024

Those against bill raise hands after Republicans only hear from those in favor.

On Tuesday, the Georgia Senate Committee on Education and Youth met to consider Senate Bill 88, a bill that would promote the forced outing of transgender youth to their parents and restrict LGBTQ+ topics in schools. The bill, which saw a surprise substitute with little time for review, would mandate that schools develop policies around outing transgender students to their parents and would require parents to opt into education on gender-related topics. What happened in the hearing, however, was unusual: only those in favor of the bill were allowed to speak, leaving those against raising their hands.

Immediately after the bill's sponsor spoke about the bill, he ceded the floor to Jeff Cleghorn, a gay anti-trans activist who calls transgender people "mentally ill sex fetishists" and regularly shares content from groups like Gays Against Groomers and Libs of TikTok. Following an incendiary speech in which he advocated for separating transgender individuals from the LGBTQ+ community, Republicans allowed four people to speak. These included a former president of the Young Republicans, a representative from Gays Against Groomers, and a representative from the Georgia Log Cabin Republicans, a group of gay Republican activists. They then abruptly ended the debate, preventing the dozens of attendees opposed to the bill from speaking.

Noting the refusal to hear those who were there to speak against the bill, Senator Donzella James posed a general question to the crowd, asking how many had come to testify against the bill. Hands shot up across the room. Moreover, many of those who did not raise their hands were present because of bills being heard later in the same committee. You can watch the exchange here:

?si=zTqwf9l_ZIExtZK2


Republican senators seemed unconcerned with their testimony, however, and proceeded forward to vote. Prior to the vote, Senator Elana Parent raised the point again on a personal consideration, stating, “I just can’t help but point out for everyone that’s here that it does seem fundamentally unfair to… it’s one thing, though I disapprove of it, to allow no testimony. It’s another thing to allow testimony from only one side. That’s black eye on moving ahead on this when there are this many people here.”

[…]

What's Up With The New York Times?

What's Up With The New York Times?
A few articles of criticism on a few different topics.

PARKER MOLLOY
FEB 12, 2024

Hey all, Parker here.

Over on X (a.k.a. Twitter), New York Times economics reporter Talmon Joseph Smith wrote, “Hung out at a low-key dinner party kind of thing with my girlfriend and some friends. All highly educated. All had no idea what the CHIPS Act was, what the [Inflation Reduction Act] did, or a clear memory of the [American Rescue Plan]. Sure, they’re not swing voters in a swing state, but the Biden Econ team has a LOT of work to do!”




When people responded to him by reminding him that he is literally a Times economics reporter, he pushed back on the idea that it was somehow his job to educate the public about various policies, saying that it would amount to “PR” for Biden.

Now, this brings up the classic question of what role journalism is supposed to play in educating the public. I think Smith has it wrong — at least a little.

He’s correct in that the Times is not any politician’s PR team, but shouldn’t news outlets take the time to reflect on why “highly educated” friends of a Times economics reporter didn’t seem to know about some basic economic policies that have been implemented over the past few years? Assuming that Smith’s friends are Times readers, shouldn’t their lack of knowledge send a message to the Times that maybe it isn’t doing enough to educate the public about what’s happening in the world? If stories aren’t sticking in people’s minds, maybe they’re not getting the right placement in the paper, maybe they’re not being written about enough, and so on.

{…}

First Five: Stories on a Single Topic to Start Your Week

This week’s theme is the state of The New York Times. Between the publication of yet another obsessive anti-trans piece from Pamela Paul to the paper’s insistence that Joe Biden (but somehow, not Donald Trump, who is just a few years younger) is too old to be president, the Times has been a mess this past week.

Wyoming Bill Could Take Trans Kids From Parents

Wyoming Bill Could Take Trans Kids From Parents
House Bill 156 would define gender affirming care to be "not in the best interest" of youth in the state. The bill affects guardianships, custody fights, and child protective services.

ERIN REED
FEB 12, 2024

A new bill in Wyoming, House Bill 156, would declare that gender-affirming care is "not in the best interest" of transgender youth within the state. The bill would apply this presumption to custody battles, guardianships, and even the rules around Child Protective Services, raising real concerns that transgender youth could be removed from affirming parents who love them and follow best practice medical guidelines. The bill has 13 sponsors, including the House majority leader, making it a significant threat for passage in the state and appears influenced by a recent social media firestorm among the far-right over a transgender teen in Montana.

The bill specifies, "To the extent applicable, in determining the best interests of the child under state law, there shall be a conclusive presumption that it is not in the best interests of the child to undergo any gender transition or gender reassignment procedures as defined by W.S. 20-2-206(a)." The list includes puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery. The bill then takes the standard, which automatically applies to all state law, and further amends sections on grandparent visitation, petitions for guardianship, custody battles, and Child Protective Services with the standard.

The effects of such a provision could be disastrous for transgender youth and their parents in the state. A non-affirming parent who divorces an affirming parent could use the provisions to take a transgender child in a custody battle over gender-affirming care. A grandparent or relative who does not approve of a transgender youth's gender transition could argue in court that the parents are not acting in the best interest of the child and are acting in a way that harms them, and instead, they should be appointed emergency guardians. Even worse, Child Protective Services could be weaponized against transgender youth in the state.

Although some Republicans and anti-trans organizations have considered gender-affirming care to be "child abuse," most states have steered clear of treating it as such, with Florida and Texas as major exceptions. In 2022, Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote a letter stating that gender-affirming care should be treated as child abuse. This kicked off a major effort across the state to investigate the parents of transgender youth and pull those youth aside for questioning by Department of Family and Protective Services investigators. Those efforts have since been blocked in court. In Florida, a bill passed in the state had similar provisions but only applied to the enforcement of child custody orders in disputes between parents.

Florida will throw trans people in jail if they try to update the gender on their driver's licenses

Brianna Ghey Murder Trial Texts Show The Moral Imperative To End Anti-Trans Hate

Brianna Ghey Murder Trial Texts Show The Moral Imperative To End Anti-Trans Hate

Today, the trial of the alleged killers of Brianna Ghey began. Prosecutors presented evidence including alleged texts showing extreme anti-trans violent rhetoric that may have lead to her killing.

ERIN REED Nov 27, 2023



Extreme discretion is advised on reading this story. It contains explicit descriptions of violence and transphobia beyond what I typically report on.



Brianna Ghey Family Handout
Please support my independent reporting and advocacy on transgender legislation by subscribing. You help me keep this going and keep people informed.

Extreme discretion is advised on reading this story. It contains explicit descriptions of violence and transphobia beyond what I typically report on.

Today, as a transgender journalist, I am reporting on a profoundly difficult story. In the United Kingdom, the trial of Brianna Ghey's alleged murderers has begun, during which the prosecutors presented evidence that could lead to their conviction. Before delving further, it's crucial to understand that the details in this case exhibit extreme transphobia and depravity, resulting in the killing of a young, beautiful transgender teenage girl, targeted for being different. Under UK law, it is imperative to stress that these are allegations presented at trial, and I am obligated in my own reporting to refrain from referring to the defendants as her "killers" or "murderers" to prevent a mistrial due to the extremely low bar of “prejudicing a trial” there. This case highlights the systematic violence and rhetoric against transgender people and how such attitudes contributed to this abhorrent killing. The details of this case are explicit, especially with regards to the evidence presented on the first day of the trial, and I advise extreme caution for transgender readers or parents of transgender children reading further.

I have made the decision to republish these messages in a story specifically because I believe that the alleged text messages show the violent, brutal nature of transphobia and what a transphobic society enables. The messages are not just cruel and horrific, they contain elements of all of the things said by the most ardent anti-trans activists, TERFs, and grifters who have made targeting transgender people with hate a full time career.

Brianna Ghey was a 16 year old transgender's girl, TikTok creator, and a “beacon of positivity” according to her friends. She would often film videos set to music while showing off her makeup or walking in a park. It was in one of these parks that her life was taken in in February of this year. In the immediate aftermath of her murder, countless people mourned for her and decried the senseless violence. Her TikToks became makeshift memorials with millions of likes and views. Days later, two teens near her age were arrested and charged with her murder.

Many people considered the idea that anti-trans sentiment and rampant transphobia in the United Kingdom may have played a role in her murder. A study indicated that the Daily Mail, a leading British newspaper, had more negative coverage of transgender people in 2023 than in the previous four years combined. Public figures such as JK Rowling and Maya Forstater have been criticized for normalizing transphobia, advocating against gender-affirming care, and labeling transgender activists as “rapist rights activists.” Brianna Ghey tragically experienced this transphobia. Days before her murder, she posted a TikTok about being excluded from school. Damian Harry, whose daughter was friends with Brianna, confirmed this, saying, “She said she was devastated by the constant abuse and even talked of ending it all. It was down to her being trans. It is disgusting what happened.”

The following will include text messages that are very graphic and disturbing. Extreme discretion is advised.