By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
The district must take corrective action after it was found to violate the rights of LGBTQ+ students and others who were bullied.
The U.S. Department of Education announced on Wednesday that it found that Owasso Public Schools in Oklahoma, where transgender teen Nex Benedict tragically died by suicide earlier this year, violated Title IX by failing to address pervasive harassment and creating a hostile school environment. Following complaints and an Office for Civil Rights investigation, the district must overhaul its Title IX processes and implement a series of corrective actions designed to protect LGBTQ+ students.
Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.
The federal investigation uncovered a pattern of negligence: Owasso Public Schools had repeatedly failed to document or respond adequately to ongoing harassment and bullying directed at LGBTQ+ students, including Benedict. According to OCR’s findings, the district often handled reports informally without notifying families of their rights or offering supportive measures. OCR described the district’s response to harassment as “deliberately indifferent,” saying it failed to uphold Title IX’s promise of a safe, non-discriminatory learning environment for all students.
In its investigation, OCR uncovered numerous instances of anti-LGBTQ+ bullying that school officials failed to address. For example, a nonbinary student in the district endured frequent homophobic slurs, including antigay slurs from peers in hallways, classrooms, and cafeterias, with some students even throwing objects at him. His mother reported the harassment multiple times to school staff, requesting support and urging officials to use security cameras to identify the perpetrators. However, she said no action was taken, and neither the student nor his family were informed of their right to file a Title IX complaint.
Other students in the district described similar experiences. A student reported being called an antigay slur repeatedly by classmates who also questioned his gender identity. Despite notifying school officials, the response was limited to informal disciplinary action with no explanation of available Title IX protections. Another student encountered slurs written on a whiteboard in a classroom, and while the offensive words were eventually erased, no further action was taken.
The agency’s findings follow months of advocacy by LGBTQ+ organizations that pressured Owasso Public Schools and the state’s superintendent of public instruction, Ryan Walters, to be held accountable. In response to Nex’s death, the Human Rights Campaign filed a Title IX complaint on behalf of his family. The OCR findings don’t mention walters.
HRC president Kelley Robinson commended the Department of Education for “sending a message that trans and non-binary students have worth” and deserve the same safe, supportive education as all other students. Robinson has been a leading voice in calling out the hostile climate fostered by Oklahoma’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies and rhetoric, which advocates say has emboldened discrimination in schools. HRC called for the Department of Education to launch an investigation days after Benedict’s death.
“Today’s resolution agreement from the U.S. Department of Education leaves no doubt: the Owasso School District failed Nex Benedict and many other vulnerable students under their care,” Robinson said in a statement.
Benedict, a 16-year-old student of Indigenous heritage at Owasso High School, had endured escalating harassment from classmates, reportedly targeted for his identity as transgender and the way he and his friends expressed themselves. On February 7, Benedict was involved in a physical altercation in a school restroom with three classmates who had reportedly mocked him, thrown objects, and hurled slurs. After pouring water on his bullies in an attempt to defend himself, Benedict was assaulted. Following this incident, he was taken to the hospital, where he messaged his family about the attack and ongoing harassment. Tragically, he died by what the Oklahoma medical examiner judged a suicide the following day. The circumstances of Benedict’s death have since fueled community outrage and highlighted the broader issues of anti-LGBTQ+ harassment, Oklahoma’s hostile political climate, and what advocates call the school’s failure to protect him.
GLSEN’s executive director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers called the Department of Education’s determination a “moment of reckoning” for schools that have “turned a blind eye or enabled a culture of bullying and harassment targeting LGBTQ+ youth.”
For Willingham-Jaggers, Benedict’s death serves as a tragic reminder of the stakes involved, saying, “We shouldn’t have to lose a child’s life before we take action to build safer schools for our youth.” Title IX, they stressed, guarantees protection for LGBTQ+ students against discrimination and harassment, regardless of changes in political leadership.
As part of the federal resolution, Owasso Public Schools must now overhaul its Title IX policies, provide training on reporting and preventing harassment, and undergo federal monitoring to ensure compliance. These changes include notifying families about their Title IX protections, making anti-harassment and non-discrimination statements available to the public, and conducting climate surveys to assess the school environment for LGBTQ+ students. The district is also required to review and document all harassment complaints from the past three years and conduct regular audits over the next two years.
If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs mental health resources and support, please call, text, or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services. Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations. The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678.
Grammy-nominated Chappell Roan has four-word response to management split story