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An Oklahoma metropolis council member has accused the state’s board of training and Libs of TikTok influencer Chaya Raichik of getting “blood in your fingers” over the demise of nonbinary scholar Nex Benedict.
Sean Cummings, the vice-mayor of The Village, a suburb of Oklahoma Metropolis, instructed members of the Oklahoma State Board of Training at a Thursday listening to that that they had “emboldened” bullying and hatred in direction of LGBTQ neighborhood and that that discourse might have led to Nex’s demise.
“You emboldened these three women your self,” Mr Cummings mentioned. “Chaya Raichik emboldened these three women by being on the library board. It’s already tough to be in highschool. It’s very tough to be completely different.”
Nex, 16, died on 7 February, sooner or later after their household say they obtained right into a battle with three women in a toilet at Owasso Excessive Faculty, after being bullied for his or her gender fluid identification.
Mr Cummings instructed The Unbiased in an interview afterwards that he felt compelled to talk on the assembly regardless that his spouse Cathy Cummings, a former mayor of The Village, had died earlier this month.
Nex Benedict, 16, died sooner or later after being assaulted in a toilet at Owasso Excessive Faculty in Oklahoma, police say
(GoFundme)
On the Thursday board assembly, Mr Cummings mentioned that the rhetoric from the training board Mr Walters had been “partially accountable” for emboldening bullies to assault Nex in a faculty rest room.
“Three older women don’t simply leap a 16-year-old in a toilet for no obvious motive, particularly once they’re from the alphabet neighborhood, who you personally have attacked ever because you ran for workplace,” Mr Cummings mentioned, in a reference to Nex figuring out as LGBTQ.
Superintendent Walters, who was in attendance on the assembly, appointed anti-LGBTQ activist Ms Raichik to a state library advisory board in January.
“You and nugatory ass Chaya Raychick actually have blood in your fingers,” Cummings instructed Oklahoma’s superintendent of public colleges Ryan Walters.
Ms Raichik, who’s New York-based, runs the Libs of TikTok social media account and posts edited, anti-trans movies that focus on LGBTQ pleasant public college lecturers and librarians.
“And also you introduced within the chief attacker of this, Chaya Raichik. It’s on you,” Mr Cummings mentioned on to Superintendent Walters.
Sean Cummings, an Oklahoma councillor, along with his late spouse Cathy, who handed away earlier this month
(Courtesy of Sean Cummings)
A video of Mr Cummings’ remarks was posted to X/Twitter by a 2 Information Oklahoma reporter.
Nex’s demise stays below investigation by police. Preliminary post-mortem outcomes point out they didn’t die from trauma, Owasso police say.
In a press release, the Benedict household mentioned Nex was “attacked and assaulted in a toilet by a bunch of different college students”.
Nex’s mom Sue Benedict instructed The Unbiased in an interview this week that that they had been bullied attributable to their nonbinary identification for greater than a yr.
Cummings mentioned he believed the college board was liable in creating an environment of anti-trans rhetoric that helped probably result in Nex’s demise.
“I believe what you’re taking a look at now could be a federal lawsuit for every certainly one of you personally and I hope it occurs as a result of it would bankrupt you,” Mr Cummings instructed the board members within the room.
“Did I not let you know this was going to occur? And I’m certain after I go away right here Chaya Raichik will tweet my stuff out once more and I’ll get demise threats once more. That’s who you introduced into the room.
“You don’t have any deniability right here. It’s a sample, Forrest Gump might see the sample.
“I’m humiliated and embarrassed for everybody who confirmed up immediately.”
Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters appointed Chaya Raichik to a library advisory board in January
(Related Press)
The Unbiased has contacted Ms Raichik and the Oklahoma State Division of Training for remark.
LGBTQ advocacy teams in Oklahoma have linked Nex’s demise to the rise of hateful rhetoric and anti-trans laws that the state legislature has handed.
Freedom Oklahoma described Nex’s demise as a doable “hate-motivated assault”, whereas the Oklahoma Satisfaction Alliance blamed the “hateful rhetoric spewed by leaders in our state”.
Mr Cummings instructed The Unbiased that he had proven as much as communicate on the assembly to name out Ms Raichik and Superintendent Walters.
“Nex’s demise is life-changing for everyone concerned, and it’s made okay due to the rhetoric of these two people and that simply pours downstream and these youngsters are ingesting that water,” he mentioned.
Mr Cummings, who owns an Irish bar in Oklahoma Metropolis, mentioned he was focused by Ms Raichik in January after criticising her appointment to the library committee.
Sean Cummings, the vice mayor of The Village in Oklahoma, made an impassioned speech at a State Board of Training assembly in regards to the demise of Nex Benedict on 22 February
(The Village Metropolis Council)
The Oklahoman reported that Mr Cummings raised an August 2023 incident the place the Libs of TikTok account posted the work location of an Oklahoma librarian, who was later the topic of bomb threats.
Mr Cummings instructed The Unbiased that the “keyboard cowboys” didn’t scare him, and that he usually felt like a lone voice standing up for LGBTQ rights in such a “purple state”.
“I’m a dad, I’ve a canine at residence. I don’t have anybody at residence. If anyone desires to return after me they will come after me.”