Transgender teen hospitalized after alleged assault in high school bathroom

A transgender girl was hospitalized and left with a broken jaw after allegedly being assaulted by one of her classmates at a Minnesota high school.

Cobalt Sovereign, 17, told NBC affiliate KARE 11 this week that she was attacked May 30 by a student as she left the men's restroom at Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, a town about 15 miles west of Minneapolis. Sovereign said she was hospitalized for two days and had to have her jaw repaired.

“I got hit in the jaw and at that point one of my teeth was knocked out, pieces in my mouth,” Sovereign told KARE 11. “My jaw was broken in two places.”

Sovereign said the student called her homophobic slurs before hitting her.

“In the bathroom, he had looked at the stall directly where I was trying to use the bathroom, and that's when he first called me a f—– in the first place ” said Sovereign.

Sovereign said she then got up from the toilet stall and left to verbally confront him.

“He had no reason to have anything against me, I never spoke to him, I never did anything negative to him,” Sovereign said. “And I was insulted, and then finally punched in the jaw.”

Sovereign said Hopkins High School had gender-neutral restrooms, but she did not try to use them on the day of the alleged assault because they were usually occupied or secluded.

“I would rather feel uncomfortable than make others uncomfortable by using the women's restroom,” she said.

The Minnetonka Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Without naming Sovereign, the department told KARE 11 this week it was investigating an incident at Hopkins High School as a “possible hate crime.”

A Hopkins Public Schools spokesperson said in an email to NBC News that the school district and police “are investigating an act of violence that occurred last Thursday involving a student who identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community.”

“Hopkins Public Schools is an inclusive community that values ​​diversity and inclusion,” the spokesperson wrote. “We will address any issues that compromise the safety and inclusiveness of our school environment. We support and support any marginalized group, including our LGBTQ+ academics and staff.

Students, activists and some local lawmakers held a rally outside the school Wednesday to condemn the alleged attack on Sovereign.

Democratic state Rep. Leigh Finke, the first openly trans person elected to the Minnesota Legislature, posted a photo on Instagram of herself at the rally and compared the alleged attack on Sovereign to the death of Oklahoma student Nex Benedict.

Benedict, a 16-year-old transgender student who used he/him and they/them pronouns, according to friends and family members, killed himself one day after a fight at Owasso High School in February. Benedict's death became a rallying cry for LGBTQ activists, who argued that the historic number of anti-trans laws made trans children less safe in school.

“These attacks are all too common and the actions of the institutions responsible for our children are consistently disappointing, negligent and dangerous,” Finke wrote on his Instagram. “Cobalt lived. Thank you goddess. Nex did not. Please help us make sure there is no next time.

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