WATCH: Florida School in Antigay Bullying Investigation

Zephyrhills High School is under investigation for its handling of the harassment of Zachery Gray and other students.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

Read Full Bio

Trudy Ring

May 28 2012 3:35 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

trudestress

Sorry to interrupt...
But we wanted to take a moment to thank you for reading. Your support makes original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Help us hold Trump accountable.

One-time Monthly

$19.67 $50 Other

$5 $19.67 $50

Zephyrhills High School in Florida, which saw a student try to take his own life because of antigay bullying a year ago, is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education.

The department's Office of Civil Rights is investigating based on a complaint by the mother of Zachery Gray that he and other students "have been subjected to harassment based on gender stereotypes," Tampa Bay-area TV station WFLA reports.

Gray is paralyzed, brain-damaged, and unable to speak after attempting suicide by hanging in May of last year, in the wake of being repeatedly called "Gay Zach, fag, queer," said his mother, Lynn "Sissy" Gray. Zach, who identifies as heterosexual, reported the harassment to a teacher, but she took no action, his mother said.

Four months before Zachery Gray's suicide attempt, another student in the same school district shot himself to death after enduring antigay bullying that included a simulated rape. Kiefer Allan, 15, attended Sunlake High School, which like Zephyrhills is part of the Pasco County district. Police recommended that the students who pinned him down and simulated the rape be charged with battery, but prosecutors dropped the case.

Florida has a law, enacted in 2008, requiring schools to take action against bullying, but the incidents in Pasco County and elsewhere have left advocates questioning if the law is working. "When it passed, that was my crowning achievement as a lawyer," said David Tirella, who worked for the law. "We had tears in our eyes." Now, he told the TV station, "I'm disillusioned. Why'd we do all that?"