Tyler Clementi was a young man who committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington bridge.
He was distraught and embarrassed because two of his college roommates apparently thought it was great fun to videotape Tyler's first sexual encounter and post it to Facebook.
The roommates, Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei (both 18) were charged with invasion of privacy. Prison terms are threatened. Note this right now......NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO THEM. NOTHING. There will be a lot of sturm und drang but in the end yet another case of homophobia, gay bashing will go unpunished.
In this country today, where we have the ridiculous, discriminatory and absurd "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and the DOMA law in full effect and backed up to the hilt by our country, gays and lesbians will always be less than whole.
That a young man like Tyler Clementi would be so ashamed of his sexual identity that he felt the need to destroy himself once his sexual identity was made public is beyond sad.
Lately I've been posting blogs that are "down." I was all prepared to post an upbeat and happy blog today. However, after hearing this heartbreaking news and the continuing officially sanctioned discrimination against gays and lesbians, I had no other choice but to voice my sadness, anger and frustration.
I think it's time for President Obama to set an example for this country from the top and stop the expulsion of gay and lesbians from the military. Once this country understands that being gay isn't something to be ashamed of, then maybe this young person's death will not of been in vain.
Now is the time President Obama.
Lead.
