A U.S. Department of Education commission handed grieving mom Wendy Walsh the ammunition she needed to slap school officials in Tehachapi, California with a wrongful-death suit in the suicide of her 13-year-old gay son, Seth, who hanged himself after enduring relentless harassment about his sexuality.


Filed on July 5th, Mrs. Walsh’s suit claims, “that ongoing harassment of her son Seth was common knowledge by school staff, they did little to stop it, and because of the negligence, Seth hanged himself,” on September 19, 2010. Sadly, it’s an all-too-familiar story these days.


Thumbs up to Obama’s Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for seriously investigating Walsh’s claims and providing support to her case. It’s nice to see the DoE doing it’s job instead of, say, attacking PBS for including a gay family in an episode of a kid’s cartoon.


And thumbs down to Superintendent Richard Swanson—named in the suit alongside Jacobsen Middle School Principal Susan Ortega, Vice Principal Paul Kaminski and four teachers— who claimed to doubt Walsh could have been bullied to such an extent without their knowledge.


Oh, you are so toast, Swanson.