By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Fourteen-year-old Colt Gray is not transgender, but conservatives are still lying about his identity to score political points in the wake of four people's murders.
The shooter accused of killing two students and two teachers at a Georgia high school is not transgender, but that hasn't stopped conservatives from lying about his identity to spread anti-trans hate.
Colt Gray, 14, was arrested and charged as an adult with four counts of murder for the mass shooting at Apalachee High School on Wednesday, which has become the deadliest school shooting in state history. His father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, was also taken into custody Thursday and charged with providing the firearm used in the killings. Both have been denied bail.
Past online messages from Gray were uncovered Friday, revealing the teen's history of anti-LGBTQ+ bias. The Washington Post and CNN each reported that Gray had previously threatened a mass shooting against queer people specifically, posting an image of a family being supportive towards their trans daughter to a Discord server and writing, “I need to put an end to that. … im on the edge of a lgbtq massacre.”
Other posts from Gray's accounts “expressed frustration with the acceptance of transgender people,” according to a previous version of the CNN article. Despite Gray's posts reflecting his frustration that trans people are becoming more accepted, conservatives online took this to mean that Gray was upset trans people are not more accepted.
CNN later quietly updated the language in their article, clarifying that Gray "expressed frustration that transgender people were being accepted in society.” Still, the damage was already done as extremists began using the previous sentence to claim — without further evidence and despite claims to the contrary — that Gray is transgender.
Andy Ngo, described as a "right-wing troll" by Media Matters, posted a screenshot of CNN's article that quickly gained traction among other figures. While Ngo has since deleted the tweet and apologized for the "wrong inference," pundits such as Donald Trump ally Laura Loomer and far-right huckster Matt Wallace have yet to correct the recirculated claims, according to archives from the nonprofit watchdog. Failed college athlete Riley Gaines deleted her response to Ngo's retracted post, but instead of taking accountability, blamed CNN's "incredibly misleading" sentence.
Chaya Raichik, who runs the account LibsofTikTok and is regarded as an extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center for posts which have led to stochastic terrorist attacks or threats against their subjects, fallaciously claimed in her posts about Gray that "the modern LGBTQ movement is radicalizing youth into becoming violent activists."
Raichik incorrectly inferred that Gray is LGBTQ+ through statements from his father, who revealed that his son was the target of anti-gay insults at school. In reality, Colin Gray did not say his son was gay, only that some of his male classmates had used the accusation as a form of bullying.
A relative of Gray's mother also recently revealed that Colin Gray frequently directed similar insults at his son, telling the New York Postthat he would call the teen a "sissy" and even bought him the AR-15-style rifle to “toughen him up." Despite the new information, Raichik has yet to delete her posts with the false claims.
Other conservative accounts online have begun to "transvestigate" Gray, claiming that because he has long hair, he must secretly be transgender. While there is no real information that suggests Gray is trans or any form of LGBTQ+ — only evidence showing his clear bias against queer people — anti-LGBTQ+ bullying and stereotypes based on misinformation seemingly deeply impacted his mental state and decisions.
