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While the protest aimed to shed a light on bullying against LGBTQ+ students, organizers also set out to let queer youth know they're not alone.
Students walked out Monday at Owasso High School in Oklahoma to protest bullying against LGBTQ+ students, and show solidarity with the local queer community after the tragic death of student Nex Benedict.
Benedict, who was 16 and had Indigenous hertiage, had reported being bullied for months before he was involved in a physical confrontation in a school restroom with three older girls on February 7. The teen told law enforcement that the girls "jumped" him and his friend “because of the way that we dressed." Benedict then died on February 8 after being transported to a hospital following a medical emergency at home.
"Our children are scared to death and go to school every day, and something has to stop," Owasso parent Susie Eubank told local news station KTUL. "My child has had direct threats. Direct derogatory names."
Cassidy Brown, a graduate of Owasso who helped organize the demonstration, told the outlet that they hoped to bring awareness to Owasso Public School's inadequate action against bullying. Furthermore, the organizers wanted to show local LGBTQ+ youth that they aren't alone.
"I just want to get the word out and show these kids that we're here," Brown said. "There is a community here in this city that does exist, and we see them, and they are loved."
The Owasso police department said in a statement last week that preliminary findings indicate trauma was not the cause of Benedict’s death, while noting an official cause had not been confirmed. Sue Benedict, Nex’s grandmother and adoptive mother, called the statement a “big cover” that was put out only as “something to calm the people."
A department official then walked back parts of the statement, clarifying that the medical examiner has not ruled that trauma did not cause the death, and confirming that there’s still the possibility of a murder charge.
The Benedict family attorney said in a statement to ABC News in response to the walkout that "the Benedicts know all too well the devastating effects of bullying and school violence, and pray for meaningful change wherein bullying is taken seriously and no family has to deal with another preventable tragedy."
