My little sister Emme drove almost three hours to have a lunch date with me.We had our usual gossip sesh, talked about our boyfriends and what she plans to do after graduation. Then we got onto the topic of www.perezhilton.com and lunch took a somber turn. I've noticed that Perez has been donating a lot of his blogging energy to the "It Gets Better Project".
Emme then told me about a boy at Rutgers who was filmed (unknowingly) by his college roommate - outing him.
Emme then told me about a boy at Rutgers who was filmed (unknowingly) by his college roommate - outing him.
This past week, Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old college student at Rutgers University, jumped to his death after finding out that his roommate, Dharun Ravi, secretly broadcast Clementi having gay sex over the Internet. Clementi posted about the incident—and told his dorm’s resident adviser—before jumping off the George Washington Bridge.
While we can’t ever know how much—if at all—Clementi’s roommate’s actions had to do with his decision to kill himself, we can say that Clementi is one of a frightening epidemic of gay teens committing suicide in recent weeks.
Ravi used Twitter to ridicule Clementi and inform friends that “Roommate asked for room until midnight. I went into Molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.” Ravi then broadcast his webcam video online. Some days later he invited his Twitter friends to video chat his computer while Clementi was again using the room.
Friends of Ravi say that he’s “a good guy” who made a poor decision. And, they say, he never intended to broadcast Clementi’s tryst online.
Either way, Clementi’s death marks the fifth suicide by a gay teen in the past month.Justin Aaberg, openly gay and just 15, committed suicide after being bullied in school. Billy Lucas, also 15 wasn’t out, but was mercilessly bullied in school. He hanged himself. Asher Brown, 13, who told his parents he was gay the morning he shot himself in the head, was also bullied. And Seth Walsh, also just 13, hanged himself after suffering from years of bullying.
Some are calling for Clementi’s roommate to be tried as a murderer. Whether Ravi’s actions truly drove Clementi to commit suicide, we’ll never know. But what we do know is that bullying can have unintended consequences. Bullies often don’t think about how what they’re doing will be received by the victim. They don’t consider what else might be going on in that kid’s life, or how much pain angry words can cause. If they did, perhaps they’d think again before lashing out. Perhaps, but probably not.
via the frisky
I can't believe there have been FIVE suicides (OF TEENS!) is the last month because of gay bullying. It's never been a cause I've been passionate about; however, reading this article makes me want to do something, make a change, be more aware. It's a noble cause and not because it's 'trendy' that celebs are now speaking up, but a cause that is in dire need of attention. Suicide at any rate is unacceptable. It's selfish, greedy and completely cowardly. But in the face of having no where to turn these kids, young young young kids, saw suicide as their only way out. Bullying affects us all - even the prettiest girl of the bunch - so think before you talk, gossip or spew verbal diarrhea at the expense of some one else's life.
We don't all have to like each other, but we're in this together.
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