Madisonians will hold a vigil for Nex Benedict on Friday, March 1

The event in Burrows Park honors the non-binary, Indigenous 16-year-old who died after being beaten at school in Oklahoma.

Organizers in Madison will hold a vigil on Friday, March 1 for Nex Benedict, a non-binary, Indigenous teenager who died on February 8, a day after classmates beat them in a bathroom at their high school in Owasso, Oklahoma. The vigil will take place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Burrows Park on the east side.

Benedict’s death has inspired a wave of outcry and vigils across the country. Their fellow students at Owasso High School staged a walkout Monday to honor Benedict’s memory, and to protest the pervasive bullying of queer youth. Other students had previously bullied Benedict, 16, because of their gender identity, their family members have told media outlets. A group of students attacked Benedict in a bathroom on Feb. 7, as Nex explained to police later that day.

Authorities in Oklahoma haven’t released an official cause of death for Benedict. But there’s no separating their death from a virulent climate of anti-LGBTQ bigotry and discriminatory policies aimed at queer youth, especially in Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s Republican state legislators and Republican Governor Kevin Stitt have adopted laws restricting transgender students’ bathroom use and participation in sports, and banning gender-affirming care for trans youth. Stitt signed an executive order in August 2023 that directs Oklahoma state agencies to define gender along strictly binary, assigned-at-birth lines. Oklahoma’s top public education official, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, seems more occupied with book-banning, stoking panic about drag performers, and installing fascist social-media influencers in government than with educating or nurturing the state’s children.

In Wisconsin, a few similar attacks on LGBTQ rights at the state level have failed, either because Democratic Governor Tony Evers vetoed them or because they somehow didn’t pick up enough steam even in our Republican state legislature. Still, Republicans used legislative committee processes to reverse a ban on conversion therapy, and the state still funds voucher schools that have anti-LGBTQ policies. Just as important, it takes more than a veto pen to protect queer youth from rhetoric and policies that put their lives at risk.

Organizers of Friday’s vigil in Burrows Park have emphasized that it’s important for queer adults to show up—so that queer youth can see that it’s possible for them to grow up and live.

Madison, show up. We will be there. The youth have requested particularly that queer adults attend the vigil to show them that there can be a future for them, too. Join us and spread the word. https://t.co/DKOYj0oLRQ

— a queer & trans bookstore (@RoomofOnesOwn) February 29, 2024

“All are welcome but youth and Native community are prioritized,” says artist and Red Clover Tattoo Collective co-founder Nipinet Landsem, one of the vigil’s organizers. Another co-organizer, Tarah Stangler, Harm Reduction Services Director at OutReach LGBTQ+ Community Center​, echoes that this “is an Indigenous- and queer-led event meant to honor all the parts of Nex’s identity.”

Stangler says the vigil will include free food and art projects. “The event won’t have speakers, and instead we’re encouraging folks to have dialogue with queer youth to help them feel loved and seen,” they add. “It will also be stationary, so folks don’t need to worry about the event moving anywhere.” 

Stangler also shared some accessibility information for the event:

Burrows Park has a wide, paved sidewalk to the shelter where the event will be taking place. The ground around the sidewalk that surrounds the shelter is hilly and uneven and covered in grass. We are working on getting lighting for the area as it will not be well lit. There will be a fire going and smoke cleansing will be done by members of the Indigenous community– some people might have allergies / asthma, but this will all be done in an open location where it can flow freely throughout the event.

Nipinet and Stangler have a few suggestions for people who can’t attend the vigil in-person, but would still like to support or participate. Stangler invites community members to email them with messages for queer youth. “If they email it to me before 3 p.m. on Friday, I will print them out and hand them out to the queer youth who attend the event so they can leave with some physical representations of how loved they are,” Stangler says.

They also recommend donating to:

• The Sovereign Body Institute, which tracks and works to counter sexual and gender violence against Indigenous people
• Briarpatch Youth Services’ Teens Like Us program
• A couple of mutual-aid fundraisers for individual queer Indigenous people in the area who are seeking help moving out of abusive situations. Nipinet is gathering funds for these via their Venmo (@nipinet) and PayPal.