Tyler Clementi was an 18-year-old freshman at Rutgers University in New Jersey who committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22, 2010 after his roommate secretly taped and then broadcast a homosexual encounter he had in his dorm room.
Clementi's suicide followed a rash of suicides by other gay youth around the nation, and sparked a massive outcry to raise awareness of the effects of bullying on gay youth and teen suicide.
Clementi reportedly suspected that his roommate had been recording him for some time, and had reported his concerns to school authorities. He even wrote that on a blog he felt that his roommate was spying on him.
In a chilling last comment, Clementi posted a message on his Facebook account minutes before he jumped that said "Jumping off the gw bridge. Sorry"
Clementi's body was pulled from the Harlem River near Inwood Hill Park a week after the suicide.
His former roommate, Dharun Ravi, 18 and Molly Well, 18 were arrested on invasion of privacy charges. Ravi was arrested on Tuesday September 28, 2010 and was released on bail of $25,000. Wei was arrested without bail on Monday September 27, 2010.
In the wake of Clementi's, Broadway actors recorded the song, "It Gets Better," to reach isolated or bullied gay youth and Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared October 2010 "LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month."
