Clementi’s Parents Say Their Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Have Evolved Since Suicide
Tyler Clementi’s family spoke publicly Friday afternoon about how their changed opinions regarding homosexuality, their altered relationship with their evangelical faith, and the surprise their son must have felt by the lack of acceptance in his first weeks in college.
The Clementis agreed to hold a one-hour interview with selected media outlets at the Ridgewood Woman’s Club to talk about their son, who committed suicide almost two years ago after being spied on with a webcam in his Rutgers dorm room, about the trial of his roommate, and about how changes in their own lives as they become advocates by starting the Tyler Clementi Foundation to fight bullying and promote acceptance.
Tyler Clementi, 18, a freshman at Rutgers, jumped off the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22, 2010, just days after his college roommate, Dharun Ravi, used a webcam top spy on him as he kissed another man in their dorm room. Ravi later urged his Twitter followers with iChat, the Apple instant messaging system, to video-chat him to see a second Clementi encounter for themselves