Content Warning: This message includes mentions of anti-LGBTQ violence against young people, as well as suicide. These topics are important, but I understand if it’s not something you can engage with right now. If you prefer to skip this message, please help me honor Nex Benedict and my friend James with a contribution to The Trevor Project.

Folks – There is an epidemic of violence against the LGBTQIA+ community right now, and our kids are in the crossfire.

By now many of you have likely heard about the devastating, violent death of Nex Benedict, a nonbinary Oklahoma teen beaten in their high school bathroom by three female students who repeatedly smashed Nex’s head on the floor.

We don’t have all the facts yet, but here’s what we do know.

Nex had been bullied for months leading up to this assault and had reported it multiple times. But school officials reportedly took no action.

Owasso High School has three – THREE – school resource officers on campus. But none were on hand to intervene and stop this beating.

School officials admit that they didn’t call an ambulance for Nex after the beating. But they did call Nex’s mom – who drove her child to the hospital herself.

The next day, Nex was dead.

Now, a former student who is also LGBTQ has come forward about their experiences at Owasso High school, including claims that school officials routinely covered up violence and bullying against LGBTQ students – even allowing teachers to use anti-LGBTQ slurs.

I have to tell you, as a former public high school teacher, that last part in particular has my blood boiling.

I grew up in rural Pierce County, WA – at a time when LGBTQ kids stayed closeted for their own safety. One of them was my best friend, James.

James was generous, kind, and passionate about helping people. He brought light into all of our lives. But his family did not accept him for who he was, and we lost James to suicide.

I was shattered. We all were. Rarely have I felt so helpless.

We knew that James was happy when he was at school – because there he knew he was accepted, and he was safe. I never forgot that, and when I became a high school teacher, I made sure my classroom was a safe haven for ALL kids.

In 18 years of teaching, I had many students like James. If ANY of my colleagues had used slurs or demonstrated outright bigotry to any of our students, I would have kept raising hell until they never saw the inside of a classroom again.

It is beyond unconscionable that so many school officials failed Nex, and have clearly been failing their LGBTQ students for years. But that negligence is no accident.

We’re only 8 weeks into 2024, and already there are nearly 500 anti-trans bills on the docket in almost every state in the nation – including SIXTY in Oklahoma and five here in Washington state.

The Supreme Court, packed with far right maniacs, has made their intentions clear that they will continue to strip away our civil rights – and LGBTQ rights are next on the target list.

When Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress and the White House, they had the opportunity to pass robust protections for the LGBTQ community. They didn’t. Instead they passed a watered down bill that kinda sorta protects marriage equality.

We’re repeatedly told to be patient. That change takes time. But justice delayed is justice denied – and today, those delays are deadly. That’s the legacy of Democrats like my opponent, who was one of the slowest members of the Democratic caucus to come around on marriage equality or repealing DOMA.

Every day that we wait to take meaningful action, kids like Nex are at risk.

I will fight for LGBTQ equality in Congress as fiercely as I fight for justice for any marginalized community. Until then, I urge you to support outstanding groups like The Trevor Project who do real, front-line work to protect the lives of LGBTQ youth.

Nex is only a little younger than my son. They could’ve been my kid. They could’ve been one of my students.

Nex was, in many ways, a typical 16-year-old. They loved playing Minecraft and watching The Walking Dead. They loved drawing and reading. And like me, they loved cats.

Nex deserves to be remembered for who they were – not just how they died. But most importantly, Nex deserves justice, and our unwavering commitment to prevent this from happening to any other kids.

Solidarity is a verb. LGBTQ allies need to get in the fight and stand LOUDLY beside our friends and neighbors who are under assault.

I’m not in the classroom anymore, but I’m running for Congress because we need to make EVERY space safe and inclusive, for ALL of us.

I do it for Nex. I do it for James. I do it for all my former students. And I’ll keep fighting until we are all free.

In solidarity,

Jason Call