As we mark a new pride month, I think back on the evolution of pride events. I think of Sylvia Rivera, at the end of her life, saying that queer folks had made ourselves so small at pride, to make room for capitalism to accommodate the comfort of straight folks, that there wasn't space for her, for trans people anymore. I hold that with me in this work. Each day, as I do it, I ask myself who we do this work for, and who is left out. I know we'll always do movement building imperfectly, such is the nature of being human. It's a necessary struggle, to build the table, to reimagine together, because this work, this movement, this pride, is something we do together.

When the State Board of Education Meeting Agenda for the May 23 meeting was posted in advance of the meeting in compliance with the Open Meetings Act, Oklahomans learned that for the second time in as many months, the process related to making comment at the meeting has changed. In response to the newest changes, Freedom Oklahoma issued the following statement

This month on May 5, folks across Turtle Island will lift up the advocacy and efforts to disrupt the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives (MMIR, also abbreviated MMIWG2S+). If you’re reading this newsletter, curious why a 2SLGBTQ+ advocacy org is talking about MMIR, we’d ask you to be more curious about why all 2SLGBTQ+ advocacy groups aren’t talking about MMIR, something that concretely is an issue at the intersection of Indigenous and Two Spirit, Indigiqueer, Indigenous LGBTQ+ identities. Many LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations, don’t even include Two Spirit people in their acronym, don’t name them in their work, or tack them on to the end as an afterthought. So, as we enter May, not only are we asking you to do some deep intersectional movement work in learning from MMIR advocates, we’re also asking you to, again, help us call on folks across the movement to put 2S at the front of this work.

Today the Senate author of HB 1449, the trans erasure act, admitted to pulling a similar measure from the floor earlier in session, acknowledging the harm of the bill’s anti-trans purpose and rhetoric on 2STGNC+ Oklahomans grieving the loss of Nex Benedict. But it seems one caucus in the legislature has decided the space to disrupt the harm targeted at our most vulnerable community members is over, in favor of election years politics at the expense of 2STNGC+ safety and lives, as demonstrated with the party line vote advancing HB 1449, the trans erasure act. Following the passage of this bill and the accompanying rhetoric, Freedom Oklahoma issued the following statement:

We’re so grateful to Representative Turner for the trust they put in us when they put their name on a ballot. We’re grateful to the way they’ve continued to organize. And we wish them and their family some well deserved rest, peace, and joy, as Representative Turner takes the steps they need to ensure their wellbeing. It’s the least they deserve.

We know that the last few months have been heartbreaking and challenging. We also know that our communities have done what we’ve always done–leaned on one another to pick up the pieces after tragedy, cultivated our own spaces for grief and joy, and kept hope alive.

As we move into April, another month of picking up the pieces, we want to share some of the words and art from our beautiful community of people fighting for a future where all Two Spirit, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming+ Oklahomans folks have the safety to live and thrive. We hope you’ll read and look through these and return to them whenever you need a dash of hope or solidarity or affirmation. We know we certainly will.

Love Letters to Trans Oklahomans - 2024

This morning, during trans week of advocacy and action, the day before the State Board of Education meets, seven weeks after Nex Benedict died, two weeks after summary results were released, the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's Office released a full autopsy report for Nex Benedict. It does not differ from summary reports, and while it does leave us with questions about why these reports have taken so long to be shared with the public, it does not offer many of the answers folks are still seeking. And it does nothing to change the fundamental injustice of the situation: Nex Benedict was a 16 year-old Indigenous student at an Oklahoma school who was relentlessly bullied for his transness for over a year, and who died the day after being physically beaten in a school bathroom. Nex is a 16 year-old, who should still be alive. And tomorrow a body that has empowered so much of the harm against trans students will meet. And no one in or beyond that body has yet taken seriously the need to address their role in the harm and take action to keep 2SLGBTQ+ students safe.

Thursday, March 21, more than a month after Nex Benedict died the day after being beaten and receiving head wounds from a fight at school in a bathroom facility Nex was mandated by law to use despite it not aligning with his gender, Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler followed what has been thus far a united front from Oklahoma law enforcement surrounding Nex Benedict’s death, announcing his office would be taking no action in response to ongoing calls for justice and independent investigations the family is being forced to carry out.

2SLGBTQ+ people have always been, and will always be in Oklahoma. We deserve the safety to learn, to thrive here. We deserve decision makers at every level of governance who are doing everything within their power to ensure our youngest and most vulnerable residents are safe. Instead, Nex’s death further proves that–far from being a threat to anyone–Two Spirit, transgender, and gender nonconforming+ (2STGNC+) students are the ones who are threatened; they are under attack in Oklahoma schools, and they are under a coordinated attack by extremist politicians who care more about their political aspirations and media appearances than about the impact of their policies and rhetoric on 2SLGBTQ+ lives.