Dear MoveOn member,
 
"We remember Nex."
 
That's the message that will greet the people of Owasso, Oklahoma,
Wednesday, as they open their local paper and find a full-page ad offering
compassion and solidarity to Nex's family, the people of Owasso, and the
larger LGBTQ+ community.
 
Owasso is where Nex Benedict—a Choctaw Indigenous, nonbinary
16-year-old—died last month, the day after being physically assaulted in
school. This followed sustained bullying that went unaddressed—in a state
where Republican elected officials had repeatedly demonized trans and
nonbinary youth.
 
Yesterday was Trans Day of Visibility, a national day to lift up, embrace,
and celebrate trans, nonbinary, and gender expansive-people, joy and trans
culture. To mark the day and remember Nex, check out the ad that MoveOn
members are running in the Owasso Reporter, and share it with friends and
family—[ Post ]or use this link to share the image more widely over X (formerly
Twitter).
 
[ [link removed] ][IMG]
 
(If you don't have an account on X/Twitter, you can still forward this ad
to friends or feel free to post it into the social media of your choice
with a message like "Tens of thousands of us came together to demand an
investigation into Nex Benedict's death. The investigation is underway,
but we haven't forgotten. Check out the message @MoveOn is sending/ We
care about the safety of LGBTQ+ people and #WeRememberNex" You can link
directly to the image [ MoveOn's ]here.)
 
After Nex's death, nearly 60,000 MoveOn members from all walks of life and
all across the country called for an investigation, which is now underway.
MoveOn members also submitted hundreds of photos to grieve with Nex's
family and community and lift up their memory. Some of these photos are
included in this advertisement, and we will deliver all of the images to
Nex's family.
 
But there's so much more to do—to lift up Nex's memory, to mark Trans Day
of Visibility, and to fight back against the brutal attacks coming from
the right wing against the trans community.
 
Trans people have always existed. Before colonization, Indigenous people
and people across the globe celebrated multiple gender identities outside
of the gender binary, which was violently pushed and enforced by European
colonizers.^1,2
 
We can celebrate and observe days like Trans Day of Visibility thanks to
fierce Black and brown trans elders like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera,
Miss Major, and so many others who came before and after them. We're
grounded in the fact that many trans folks, Black folks, and people of
color who led the Stonewall uprising in 1969 were faced with police
violence and brutality for simply existing. The fight for collective,
intersectional, and inclusive liberation—one that amplifies the voices of
the most vulnerable members of our communities—is still ongoing.
 
And while it's important to keep fighting back against all of the violent
legislation actively targeting and harming trans people, it's also as
important to celebrate trans joy, trans history, and trans communities.
That is at the heart of the Trans Day of Visibility.
 
While this newspaper ad is intended to be a visible and public sign of our
solidarity, there is more we can all do and will continue to do to be
visible and active supporters of and allies to those who are under attack
by rhetoric, actions, and legislation targeting gender identity. The trans
and gender-expansive community deserves the right to feel safe and
supported, whether that’s at home, at school, or in our communities. This
month and always, we must hold space for happiness about how far we’ve
come, grieve for those and what we’ve lost along the way, and continue
pushing for the collective liberation of all of us, especially trans folks
and youth who need our support right now.
 
Thanks for all you do.
 
—Nakia, Jensine, Justin, Emma, and the rest of the MoveOn team
 
P.S. Want to learn more about being an ally to trans and nonbinary youth?
[ [link removed] ]Check out this resource from The Trevor Project to find more ways to
join this work.
 
P.P.S. Several of Nex's friends have shared that Nex preferred he/him
pronouns but also went by they/them pronouns. While we used they/them in
this email, we want to acknowledge Nex's gender fluidity as part of
embracing Nex's full identity.^3
 
Sources:
 
1. "Transgender People Have Always Existed," ACLU Ohio, June 10, 2016
[link removed]
 
2. "A Map of Gender Diverse Cultures," Independent Lens, August 12, 2015
[link removed]
 
3. "Friends remember Nex Benedict, Oklahoma student who died after school
fight, as ‘fiery kid,’" NBC News, February 26, 2024
[link removed]



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