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Why This Death of a Nonbinary Teen in Oklahoma Got the Liberal Media in Trouble Again

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  February 24, 2024 6:45 PM

A lot is going on, but it would seem that the liberal media got ahead of their skis again regarding the death of a nonbinary Oklahoma teenager who was involved in a brief bathroom brawl in an alleged bullying incident. Nex Benedict, 16, died on February 8 following this brief melee at Owasso High School, which is located right outside Tulsa. The death is mysterious, as physical trauma isn’t what led to Benedict’s death. This incident loomed in the background of The Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz’s interview with Libs of TikTok, aka Chaya Raichik, which we’ll get to in a second. First, the incident earned a response from the Biden White House and was threaded into Lorenz's story about Raichik (via Associated Press):

Benedict was able to walk out of the bathroom after the Feb. 7 fight but was taken to a hospital by their family and sent home that night. The next day, paramedics were dispatched to the home for a medical emergency and took Benedict to a hospital emergency room, where they later died, police said. 

Nex Benedict’s mother, Sue Benedict, told The Independent that the teen suffered bruises all over their face and eyes in the fight involving a transgender student and three older girls. 

The school district has said the students were in the restroom for less than two minutes before the fight was broken up by other students and a staff member. 

[…] 

While bullying at school is not uncommon, experts say the problem is particularly acute for students who identify as nonbinary or transgender, and particularly for those who are transitioning. 

Al Stone-Gebhardt, a transgender man who graduated last year from Tulsa Union Public Schools, less than 15 miles (24 kilometers) from Owasso, said he noticed an increase in anti-trans bullying and discrimination as state lawmakers started to introduce bills targeting trans youths.

“I absolutely felt there was increased tension and vulnerability for trans people to attend school in Oklahoma,” he said. “It got pretty bad.” 

There appears to be conflicting information regarding whether Benedict was a victim of bullying or the bully—I’ll just leave this here:

When Lorenz interviewed Libs of TikTok, who wore a crying Lorenz t-shirt to the sit-down, the Washington Post writer also wore a mask outside, making this interview even more entertaining. The dichotomy couldn’t be more defined here. Raichik sits on the Oklahoma Library Media Advisory Committee, which was the linchpin of Lorenz's piece: Raichik’s social media activity is to be blamed for the “terror campaign” against LGBT youth, which led to deadly results in Oklahoma. Benedict’s death was included in Lorenz’s piece as well to massage the narrative (via WaPo):


Raichik, who operates the social media account Libs of TikTok, has amassed an audience of millions on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, largely by targeting LGBTQ+ people. Last month, Raichik was appointed to the Oklahoma Library Media Advisory Committee by Republican schools superintendent Ryan Walters, a former history teacher who has been called “the state’s top culture warrior” for his opposition to teachers unions and other conservative targets, including LGBTQ+ students’ rights.

 […] 

…Oklahoma City Councilor Sean Cummings (D) lambasted Raichik for stoking anti-LGBTQ+ hatred in the state, saying she has “blood on her hands.” And Matt Bernstein, a 25-year-old LGBTQ+ content creator in New York who has been targeted by Raichik, said: “I’m just hearing constantly how Chaya Raichik specifically has caused a rift in the experience of being a queer high-schooler in America.” 

[…] 

In a podcast interview this week about the violence that follows her posts, Raichik smiled and said she’s proud of being called a stochastic terrorist — someone who inspires supporters to commit violence by demonizing a person or group. 

“Honestly, like, that makes me feel really important,” Raichik said. 

On Thursday, in an hour-long interview with a Washington Post reporter at a coffee shop in Los Angeles, Raichik said that “bomb threats are bad” and that she believes “people who call in bomb threats should be arrested.” But she said: “I just don’t know — what does it have to do with me?” 

[…] 

In Oklahoma, Raichik has been blamed by gay rights advocates for driving teachers who support LGBTQ+ youths from their jobs. They include former Owasso teacher Tyler Wrynn, who is nonbinary. After Raichik posted about Wrynn, the teacher said they received an onslaught of death threats and harassment. 

Benedict’s mother, who declined through her lawyer to speak to The Post, told the Independent that her child was angry and upset about Raichik targeting Wrynn… 

[…] 

Sonja, 42, a nonbinary Tulsa resident who spoke on the condition that they be identified by only their first name due to concerns about safety, called Raichik’s posts a “terror campaign” against LGBTQ+ people and their allies that had created a “hit list” of vulnerable people. 

“What Chaya likes to do is create these incendiary posts, letting followers know, ‘This is your target. This is the villain you should go after,’” Sonja said. “Then when things get out of hand, she goes back and deletes her posts. She’s pointing people toward Owasso, and things have escalated since then.”

So, you get the gist: Libs of TikTok is a domestic terrorist, except that she’s not. Also, the article described Joe Rogan, whom Raichik has promoted on her account, as “right-wing.” Rogan may no longer identify as a liberal, but he’s not conservative—he supported Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic primaries.  

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And for all the attacks on Libs of TikTok and the narrative that Benedict was a victim of conservative activism against gender mutilation surgeries for minors and gay porn in libraries, this individual was not beaten to death in a bathroom scuffle. We don't know how Benedict died, so we'll need the toxicology report now.  

What is unsurprising in Lorenz's piece unrelated to the Oklahoma incident is her attempt to make Raichik feel responsible for the alleged actions of her supporters and those who comment on her threads. The people who cross the line should be dealt with accordingly, and Raichik supports that, but this incessant need for liberals to make others with whom they disagree feel shame for holding differing views is laughably predictable. 

You know the rule: only conservatives should take responsibility for the actions of a few looney toons, but not the Left, who, if we’re playing by these silly rules, endorses the assassination of Supreme Court justices they don’t like. This habit is also indicative of liberals’ degrading respect and support for freedom of speech and association. As for Oklahoma, the supposedly draconian anti-trans laws that are creating an atmosphere of fear that Libs of TikTok has supposedly fostered include no gender mutilations for minors, no biological males in female sports, and no LGBT porn in libraries. You also have to use the restroom that corresponds with the gender assigned to you at birth. There's not much uproar aside from liberals on social media because these laws are popular with voters—some very much so:

And kudos to Raichik for sitting down with Lorenz, who harassed members of her family and doxxed her before she publicly revealed her name. She also turned the tables on Lorenz, asking her how she felt about her supporters wishing Raichik would commit suicide. 

Until then, we'll keep you updated on Oklahoma.