The tragedy appeared to be the latest in a growing trend of sophisticated technology and social networking sites being used to give old-fashioned bullying, especially of homosexual youngsters,a vicious new twist.
First-year student Tyler Clementi, 18, at Rutgers University in New Jersey, killed himself shortly after being spied on and having footage of himself streamed online.+
Bullying and harassment of young gays and lesbians, and the suicides they have caused, have long been a major topic in gay publications and among activists. But celebrities and others have seized on Tyler Clementi's shocking suicide to call attention to the issue.
Clementi's death was part of a string of suicides last month involving youngsters who were believed to have been victims of anti-gay bullying. Fifteen-year-old Billy Lucas hanged himself in a barn in Greensburg, Ind. Asher Brown, 13, shot himself in the head in Houston. And 13-year-old Seth Walsh of Tehachapi, Calif., hanged himself from a tree in his backyard.
As a fellow Rutgers student it's tragic to see your school in the news for such horrendous things. At the same time it's hard to imagine what anyone was thinking in those situations. I did a lot of crazy, selfish thoughtless things in college, but luckily none of them resulted in the loss of life.
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