18 year old Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University in New Jersey, reportedly jumped off a bridge to his death after his roommate secretly set up spy cameras in his dorm room, filmed him making out with another guy, and then posted the videos on Twitter.Right on, John.
The roommate also invited his Twitter followers to come watch Tyler, live, via hidden camera during a second date. The day after, Tyler announced on Facebook that he was going to kill himself, and shortly thereafter jumped off a bridge to his death....
This is what it means to be gay in America in 2010. I think a lot of people who aren't gay, and even many who are, like to think that we're all rich and live in big welcoming cities where being gay is about as big a handicap as being left-handed. We say we want our civil rights, but I think a lot of people think we've got things pretty good, and behind closed doors, they probably call us whiners too.
And I'm sure our lives are pretty good, and just as good as straight people's, except for the part about not being able to get married, have children in many states, keep a job - oh yeah, and that nagging desire to kill ourselves because so many of us grew up thinking we were horrible people who would never be loved, or find love....
Gay civil rights isn't a "social issue." It's our lives. A lot of us, myself included, grew up thinking we'd never see the age of 30 because we'd have to kill ourselves once people found out we were gay. A lot of people have no idea how hard it is to grow up being gay. To grow up thinking God made you wrong. Thinking you will never find love. Thinking your own family and friends will disown you once they know who you really are. And hearing the President of the United States - one of the "good" guys - say that you don't deserve the right to marry the person you love.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Gay college student commits suicide
Words fail. From AmericaBlog:
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2 comments:
"A lot of us, myself included, grew up thinking we'd never see the age of 30 because we'd have to kill ourselves once people found out we were gay."
Oh that knocked the wind out of me. I had forgotten or chosen not to think about that one in years. I remember thinking almost that exact same thought in my late teens and early twenties. It was like a backup plan for the unthinkable event that everyone, family and friends, would find out that I was gay.
That poor kid. Someone should have known what was going on and told an administrator.
Myy heart breaks every time I hear of another tragedy such as this.
And I agree with the blogger about Obama's views. When tragedies like this take place, it seems irresponsible for the president to help nail the coffin shut on gay marriage for Americans. It sends the nation the message that gay people are bad and wrong and therefore not entitled to the same basic rights as the rest of our citizens.
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