A candlelight vigil for Nex Benedict, the nonbinary high school student who died earlier this month after a fight in their Oklahoma school bathroom, was held last weekend on Boston Common. According to the Boston Globe, more than 200 people came out in the cold to honor Benedict’s life and mourn their tragic death. The event was organized by Trans Resistance MA and joins hundreds of similar vigils for Benedict across the country.
Reports the Globe:
Attendees, who stood wrapped in winter coats against the breezy night air, brought small electronic candles while others used the flashlights on their mobile phones and held them up in the air, creating a scene of sparkling light on Boston Common.
Around the Parkman bandstand, various LGBTQ+ pride flags were draped over the railings and fluttered in the wind. Some attendees brought signs, with one that read “Trans kids deserve to grow up.”
“It’s infuriating being trans in this country,” Mali Crosby, 18, told the crowd from the steps of the bandstand. Crosby, a student filmmaker from Florida attending college in Boston, led the 75 minute vigil, which featured a series of speakers and moments of prayer and silent reflection.
“People perceive your existence as a threat, and they constantly try to break us down,” Crosby continued. “What they don’t know is that we are stronger, we have community, we will not die silently, and we will fight like hell for the siblings you have taken from us.”
Trans Resistance MA organized the early evening event on Boston Common, one of dozens of vigils for Benedict held nationwide in a show of support for the 16-year-old, whose stunning death has been felt across the country.
LGBTQ+ activists say the teenager’s death is a tragic example of the threats faced by young people who are gender nonconforming, particularly in Republican-led states such as Oklahoma, where lawmakers have approved a slew of anti-trans legislation. …
Saturday’s speakers also included United American Indians of New England co-leader Mahtowin Munro and Jean-Luc Pierite of the North American Indian Center of Boston, who honored Benedict’s Choctaw ancestry with a prayer and song. Munro emphasized that members of the Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ communities must be protected and said many Indigenous nations acknowledge multiple genders.
Read the complete Boston Globe story here.
More: transresistancema.com
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