Oklahoma
What does gender expansive mean? Oklahoma teen’s death puts gender identity in spotlight.
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Patrick Colson-Price, USA TODAY
The death of 16-year-old Nex Benedict in the wake of a fight at an Owasso, Oklahoma, high school has drawn widespread attention after reports that the teen was long bullied for their gender identity, which friends have described as “gender expansive.”
But what does gender expansive mean? According to national LGBTQ+ advocacy group PFLAG, it’s an umbrella term for individuals who don’t align with traditional gender categories, or who expand ideas of gender expression or identity.
“It might be used because someone has identities outside of what’s socially accepted,” said Mackenzie Harte, PFLAG’s manager of learning and inclusion, adding that the term is one they’ve increasingly heard used by parents and educators regarding to youth. “It’s where someone is not conforming to social ideas of what gender should be.”
The term has been around since at least 2012, when LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Human Rights Campaign surveyed more than 10,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth across the United States. The term “gender-expansive” emerged from the report to classify youth who didn’t identify with traditional gender roles but were otherwise not confined to one gender narrative or experience.
“This term allows us to talk about youth who don’t meet our ‘traditional’ understandings of gender without putting their identity in a box,” the report read.
Gender expansive is not synonymous with nonbinary, PFLAG notes; even cisgender individuals can embrace the term. Instead, it’s another way of saying gender non-conforming — the more preferred term, according to the group.
“While some parents and allies use the term, gender non-conforming (GNC) is the preferred term by the LGBTQ+ community,” the group says as part of a glossary definition on PFLAG’s website. “It is important to use the term preferred by an individual with whom you are interacting.”
What happened to Nex Benedict?
Nex, a 16-year-old who loved reading, art, and playing Minecraft, was hurt during a fight that erupted in an Owasso High School bathroom on Feb. 7.
That afternoon, officers responded to a local hospital, where Sue Benedict, Nex’s mother, reported the assault and urged police to follow up with school administrators. Nex was later discharged, but the following day Benedict called 911 to report that Nex was having medical issues, including shallow breathing.
According to police, she said Nex had hit their head on the bathroom floor during the altercation. Emergency crews performed CPR before Nex was taken to a Tulsa hospital and pronounced dead.
Police said on Wednesday that an autopsy determined Nex did not die as a result of trauma. But medical examiners have yet to disclose their complete findings.
Oklahoma youth long endured bullying
Family members have said that Nex used the pronouns they/them, and interviews indicate friends believe Nex was still exploring their gender identity at the time of their death.
Executive director Nicole McAfee of Freedom Oklahoma, a group advocating to make the state safer for people of all genders and sexualities, said friends of Nex described them as gender expansive, using they/them pronouns with some people and he/him pronouns with those closest to him.
While it remains unclear whether the altercation involved Nex’s gender identity, the friends said other students had bullied Nex for their gender identity “for well over a year,” McAfee said.
More young adults identifying as nonbinary or transgender
Results of a Pew Research Center survey released in June 2022 showed a record high 5% of young adults identify as transgender or nonbinary. About 1.5% of the U.S. adult population identifies as such, the survey found, and more Americans report knowing someone who is transgender compared to five years ago.
LGBTQ+ advocates attribute the rise to more accurate media representation, the growing visibility of transgender and nonbinary people on social media platforms and the internet, and a broadening of terminology and social acceptance offering previously unavailable avenues for self-expression.
The survey also found growing awareness of terms such as nonbinary and gender fluid, especially among young adults. Both terms refer to individuals who don’t identify as strictly male or female.
The survey was devised by Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., as part of efforts to better understand the experiences of transgender and nonbinary individuals in a political and social climate that has put gender identity in the spotlight — particularly among Republican candidates looking to sway voters as the 2024 election approaches.
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‘Please do not judge us as Nex was judged’
Jordan Korphage, the school district’s director of communications, has not responded to inquiries about whether the school had gotten prior bullying reports involving Nex or whether the school had any support groups for students of various gender and sexual identities.
But relatives confirmed this week that the family plans to conduct an independent investigation, pleading with officials to “hold those responsible to account and to ensure it never happens again.”
On the GoFundMe page she launched to raise money for funeral expenses, Sue Benedict expressed gratitude for an outpouring of financial and emotional support and apologized for not using Nex’s chosen name in her original post.
“As parents, we were still learning the correct forms,” Benedict wrote. “Please do not judge us as Nex was judged, please do not bully us for our ignorance on the subject. Nex gave us that respect and we are sorry in our grief that we overlooked them. I lost my child, the headstone will have the correct name of their choice.”
Contributing: Christopher Cann, USA TODAY; Molly Young, The Oklahoman
Boom News! | ’27 WR Malahn Green Commits to Oklahoma!
Posted on: June 14, 2026
The Sooners pick up a commitment from ’27 WR Malahn Green, as we have been expecting.
Malahn Green’s recruitment to Oklahoma happened in a hurry, but it is a good example of how quickly things can move when both sides feel the fit is right. The Sooners identified the St. Louis product as a priority target after evaluating him closely this spring and summer, extended an offer, got him back on campus, and quickly moved him to the top of the board following a pair of wide receiver departures in the 2027 class. Within days, Green went from a prospect with a growing offer list to a Sooners commitment.
Part of the reason Green remains somewhat under the radar nationally is because he did not play during his junior high school season. Missing that year limited his exposure on the camp and evaluation circuit and slowed down his recruiting momentum. As more schools were able to evaluate him in person this offseason, however, his stock began to rise.
At roughly 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, he is an explosive athlete with legitimate home-run speed. He is dangerous with the ball in his hands, can create after the catch, and has the type of sudden acceleration that allows him to turn short touches into long gains. Green projects as a player who can be moved around the formation, utilized on screens, jet sweeps, and manufactured touches while also stretching defenses vertically.
His biggest strengths are his burst, change of direction, and ability to make defenders miss in space. He is the kind of player who can flip field position with one touch and gives offensive coordinators flexibility in how they deploy him.
The areas for development are fairly typical for a player with his background. Because he missed his junior season, there is less game film available than many of his peers, and he will need continued refinement as a route runner. His smaller frame also means he will have to prove he can consistently win against bigger, more physical defensive backs and handle contested-catch situations. Improving the finer details of route pacing, releases against press coverage, and overall polish as a complete receiver will be important as he progresses toward college.
For Oklahoma, though, the upside is easy to see. Green brings a dimension of explosiveness to the Sooners’ receiver room, and his quick commitment gives Emmett Jones another prospect with nice upside as OU reloads the wide receiver position in the 2027 class following a couple of decommitments.
Kenny Gajewski picked up a transfer from Utah on Saturday, and so did Josh Holliday.
Right-handed pitcher Kaden Soder announced he has committed to Oklahoma State.
Listed at 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, Soder was a junior this past season. In 22 1/3 innings, Soder had a 4.84 ERA with a 3-0 record and a save. He struck out 28 while walking a dozen.
This season was his first playing at the Division-I level, as the Las Vegas native spent the previous two seasons at the College of Southern Nevada (JUCO). He had a 6-3 record in his time in JUCO with a 3.68 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 78 1/3 innings. He was named his conference’s pitcher of the year as a sophomore, earning first team honors for the conference and the region.
Prior to that, Soder spent the 2023 season at Oregon but didn’t play. That was the year before OSU pitching coach Blake Hawksworth got to Eugene, but there could be a connection there nonetheless.
OMAHA, NE — A child shall lead them indeed.
On the biggest stage of his young life, Oklahoma freshman Cord Rager was unfazed by the moment, undeterred by the huge crowd, and unbothered by the Sooners’ opponent.
Rager got plenty of run support, but he was virtually untouchable Saturday in his College World Series debut, a 9-0 victory over No. 7 seed Alabama.
Among OU coach Skip Johnson’s seven new freshmen he welcomed last fall, none have been more impactful than the 6-foot-6, 237-pound left-hander from Maypearl, TX.
On Saturday in the Sooners’ CWS opener, Rager was the best player on the field, the centerpiece of Oklahoma’s ongoing postseason rebirth.
“I’ve said it from the very beginning, it’s probably one of the best classes I’ve been around,” Johnson said on Thursday. “I don’t consider those guys freshmen anymore. They’ve been through the gauntlet of the season.”
With the win over the Crimson Tide, the Sooners advance to Monday’s 6 p.m. second round against the winner of Saturday’s first-round contest between Georgia and Texas.
The victory was Oklahoma’s first shutout at the CWS since 1951, and it was the biggest shutout win at the CWS since 2002.
Rager was hyper efficient in his third straight start in the NCAA Tournament, striking out eight, walking none and needing only 88 pitches (63 strikes) across seven innings. It was the longest outing of his career so far, besting the six innings he threw against the Citadel in the Atlanta Regional two weeks ago and against Kansas in the Lawrence Super Regional last week.
Rager gave up just three hits and hit one of the 24 batters he faced — three over the minimum for seven innings. He got help from a handful of Sooner defensive gems, including a slick double play started by Dayton Tockey in the fifth inning and clever leather by Camden Johnson at third and Kyle Branch at second.
Rager’s overall season numbers weren’t that impressive. He came into the CWS with a 5-3 record and a 5.20 earned run average in 64 innings (14 starts). But the last two of those wins were in the NCAA Tournament as he has quickly settled into Johnson’s ace role.
Against Bama, Rager threw single-digit pitches in three of his first four innings, and only got better the more he threw. After striking out the side in the seventh, he pumped his arms and shouted into the sold-out Charles Schwab Field crowd of 24,579, ready to throw as many pitches as Johnson needed from him.
Johnson, however, gave Rager the rest of the night off, bringing in L.J. Mercurius to pitch the eighth and ninth.
Rager located his 95 mph fastball all day, but his deadliest pitch might have been an 80 mph, two-strike slider, with which he ended the first and seventh innings, and quelled the Tide’s only offensive push with a weak ground ball to end the fifth.
The Sooners wasted no time jumping on Alabama starter Tyler Fay with a pair of runs with two out in the first inning, as Jason Walk led off with a single. After a fly ball and a groundout, Jaxon Willits singled to center, and Trey Gambill delivered a two-out, two-strike double to the gap in right-center field, easily scoring Willits and Deiten LaChance for a 2-0 lead.
OU added to that in the third inning when Walk drew a leadoff walk, stole second, took third on Camden Johnson’s sharp single to right, and then scored on LaChance’s double play ground ball.
With Rager having not yielded a hit through four innings, Alabama finally broke through in the fifth — briefly.
Bama’s John Lemm and Eric Hines opened the inning with back-to-back singles, but then Rager induced two ground balls to end it — the first a double play started by Tockey at first, the next a soft roller to Branch at second to end the threat.
OU added two runs in the sixth when Camden Johnson was hit by pitch and LaChance smashed Fay’s next pitch over the bullpen in left field for a 5-0 lead.
It was LaChance’s team-leading 16th home run of the season — all since April 9. It also tallied the Sooners’ 36th home run in their last 14 games and their 19th of the postseason.
Rager struck out the side in the seventh and was still riding the crest of the wave when OU added a pair of runs in the eighth.
Walk led off with another walk, and LaChance moved him up with a one-out single to left. Willits then delivered a single to center that scored Walk for a 6-0 lead. Brendan Brock followed that with a two-out, hustle double to center field that brought home LaChance for a 7-0 OU edge.
The Sooners continued their big eighth inning as Dasan Harris roped a single to right to score Brock and Willits to make it 9-0. Tockey, hero of the Atlanta Regional, slashed a double down the line in left to put runners on second and third, but Bama third baseman Jason Torres robbed Branch of a hit that would have made it 11-0.
LaChance’s day was particularly impressive after what looked like a badly sprained left ankle stepping on second base in the first inning. He got the ankle taped in the dugout, then remained in the game as Rager’s catcher.
LaChance finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored despite what looked like painful trips around the bases. His home run trot was slow, but he exhorted Sooner Nation as he crossed home plate.
Willits and Harris also were 2-for-4 at the plate, and Gambill and Harris each had two RBIs. Walk had a hit and two walks and scored twice.
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