Good morning and happy hump day! Welcome to The Movement from NOTICE News, where we envision a world that’s driven by human decency, compassion and love—not corporate greed and growth. We’re news for the people, not the profit. 🌹

In today’s newsletter:

• Oklahoma passed an anti-trans school bathroom bill, and a student is now dead

• How Joe Biden’s support for Israel may impact the electoral college

• Latest news and stories the algorithm may be keeping out of your feed

• And good news: Beyoncé makes history, AGAIN

⏱️ Estimated read time: 4.6 minutes.

Outrage after bullied trans teen dies after fight in high school bathroom 

Outrage is growing over the death of a bullied, non-binary Oklahoma teenager after a fight in a high school bathroom. Nex Benedict’s mother told the gut-wrenching story to the Independent. She says the 16 year old was knocked to the ground during a fight with three older girls on February 6, hitting their head on the floor. Nex was suspended and, the next day, collapsed at home. They died later that day at the hospital.

Nex’s mom said the bullying started “in earnest” two years ago, after the state’s Republican Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law a requirement that public school students use bathrooms that matched the sex listed on their birth certificates. Stitt has decried what he calls “out-of-control gender ideology,” and also passed legislation to make providing gender-affirming care a felony crime. Meanwhile, Oklahoma languishes as the 10th poorest state in the country, with some 1.5 million people—38% of the population—living in poverty.

Going even further, Oklahoma’s superintendent of schools put ‘Libs of TikTok’ founder and vile transphobe Chaya Raichik on a state library advisory committee earlier this year. Nex’s mom says a teacher the teen greatly admired resigned in 2022 after they were featured in one of Raichik’s posts.

Nex’s tragic death comes in the middle of what experts call an epidemic of violence against transgender people. In 2023, as Republicans ratcheted up trans-panic rhetoric and legislative persecution, at least 32 transgender and gender-expansive people were murdered. 84% of those were people of color; 50% were Black women. The violence is more than physical: the mental health effects on young people of such transphobic hatred being encoded into law is also well documented.

So, what next? LGBTQ+ groups have called Nex’s death a “hate crime.” The Independent reports the police are interviewing school staff and students and would be submitting their investigation to the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution review. A spokesperson for the police department said “all charges will be on the table” once a cause of death was confirmed.

Rest in power Nex. We hope all those responsible for your tragic death face justice.

Biden’s unflinching support of Israel may cost us our democracy

There’s growing concern that President Biden’s unflinching support of Israel’s genocide in Gaza may cost him the election, and with it, our democracy. That’s because a crucial must-win battleground state for Biden, Michigan, is home to some 200,000 Arab American voters. And they are pissed—urging voters in next week’s Democratic primary to vote “uncommitted” instead of for the President.

What’s at stake: Biden cannot afford to lose any voters in his fragile coalition from 2020: he won the state by just 155,000 votes. If Biden loses Michigan, Trump would only have to win two of the remaining five battleground states (Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, and Georgia) to reclaim the presidency.