Greece Becomes First Orthodox Country to O.K. Same-Sex Marriage

Last Thursday, Greece legalized same-sex civil marriage, becoming the first Orthodox Christian country to do so.

Nonbinary Oklahoma Teen Dead After School Assault

On February 7, three girls attacked nonbinary 16 year old classmate Nex Benedict in the girls’ bathroom at Owasso High School in Oklahoma. Benedict, who used they/them pronouns, had experienced months of bullying for being Nonbinary, according to an ABC News report.

Nex’s grandmother Sue Benedict, who had adopted the teen, told British newspaper The Independent that the girls had knocked them down and proceeded to hit their head on the bathroom floor during the assault.

The fight was broken up by other students in the bathroom, as well as a supervising staff member. According to the Washington Post, all students involved were sent to the assistant principal and nurse’s offices, but no ambulance or police were called.

Nex was suspended from school for two weeks.

Benedict picked Nex up from school that day and took them to a hospital, where an MRI was given, then reported the assault to police.

Nex collapsed at home the next morning, and was rushed to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

In a GoFundMe post, Benedict said the bullying followed a multitude of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation primarily targeting Trans people in Oklahoma, and expressed remorse. “We are sorry for not using their name correctly and as parents we were still learning the correct forms. Please do not judge us as Nex was judged, please do not bully us for our ignorance on the subject. Nex gave us that respect and we are sorry in our grief that we overlooked them.”

Oklahoma Leads Nation in Anti-LGBTQ Bills Introduced in 2024

The ACLU is tracking 437 anti-LGBTQ+ bills across 40 states in the U.S. Of those, 54 bills were filed in Oklahoma, the most of any state in the nation. Oklahoma introduced 35 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in 2023.

In August 2023, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) issued an executive order directing government agencies, schools, and state institutions to narrowly define gender and familial roles in a way that excludes Trans, Nonbinary, and Intersex people, cynically called the “Women’s Bill of Rights,” after bills to these effects failed to pass the state legislature.

Stitt also signed several anti-LGBTQ+ pieces of legislation in 2023, including a ban on Nonbinary gender markers on state birth certificates, the criminalization of providing gender-affirming medical care to minors, a ban of Trans girls and women from participating in female sports teams, and banning Trans people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.

“What we are fighting against is home-grown bigotry in the place of policy,” said Oklahoma Rep. Mauree Turner (D), who represents Oklahoma City in the State House, in a statement last year. “I know it makes a lot of folks uncomfortable that Trans people exist, but I would ask you to truly think about the last time a Trans person existing really impeded on how you showed up in the world.” Turner is the nation’s first Nonbinary person ever elected to public office.

Justice Alito Calls Jury Exclusion of Homophobic People Discrimination

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has once again issued an opinion calling the exclusion of jurors with anti-LGBTQ+ religious beliefs a form of discrimination. After the Supreme Court refused to take up an appeal for a case in which a Missouri Lesbian, Jean Finney, was awarded $275,000 for discrimination after a coworker of hers with the Missouri Department of Corrections, who was also the ex-husband of a romantic partner of Finney’s, harassed, disparaged, and lodged multiple complaints against her.

Alito has on several occasions expressed concerns about anticipated “danger” from the Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which legalized same-sex marriage — in particular that “Americans who do not hide their adherence to traditional religious beliefs about homosexual conduct will be ‘labeled as bigots and treated as such.’”

First Federal Trial For Gender Identity Based Hate Crime Begins

On Tuesday, the trial began for Daqua Lameek Ritter, charged with the murder of Dime Doe, a Black Trans woman, who prosecutors say he killed in rural South Carolina in August 2019.

According to prosecutor Ben Garner, assistant U.S. attorney for the district of South Carolina, Ritter had a secret sexual relationship with Doe. When his girlfriend, on whom he was cheating with Doe, found out — and called him a homophobic slur, Garner says Ritter became enraged, sending threatening messages before luring Doe to a rural area near an uncle’s house and shooting her three times in the head. Ritter then, they say, fled to New York. Garner says Ritter killed Doe “to silence her.”

Weaponized Words And Stigma Cause Acts of Violence

It’s heartbreaking that, in 2024, kids are still being bullied to death. It’s horrifying that, for some, the stigma of LGBTQ+ attraction is so intense that somebody would choose to murder a romantic interest to avoid exposure. It’s frustrating and infuriating that many in power, even those in the highest ranks of our judicial system, are still attempting to justify discriminatory views as some sort of traditional value.

The only traditions we need to retain are those based in love, kindness, and respect for our neighbors. Period.

Rest in Peace, Nex.