Suicide of Tyler Clementi

Tyler Clementi
Facebook profile picture of Tyler Clementi
Born	December 19, 1991 Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	September 22, 2010 (aged 18) George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, U.S.
Cause of death	Suicide
Education	Ridgewood High School Rutgers University
Occupation	Student

Tyler Clementi (December 19, 1991 – September 22, 2010) was an 18-year-old American student at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010. On September 19, 2010, Clementi's roommate, Dharun Ravi, used a webcam on his dorm-room computer and his hallmate Molly Wei's computer to view, without Clementi's knowledge, Clementi kissing another man. Clementi eventually found out, after Ravi posted about the webcam incident on Twitter. Two days later, Ravi urged friends and Twitter followers to watch via his webcam a second tryst between Clementi and his friend, though the viewing never occurred.

Ravi and Wei were federally indicted for their roles in the webcam incidents, though they were not charged with a role in the suicide itself. Ravi was tried and convicted in 2012 on multiple charges related to the webcam viewing. After an appeals court overturned parts of the conviction, Ravi pleaded guilty to one count of attempted invasion of privacy on October 27, 2016.

Clementi's death brought national attention to the issue of cyberbullying and the struggles facing LGBT youth.

Clementi was born on December 19, 1991, in Ridgewood, New Jersey. A graduate of Ridgewood High School, he was a violinist; he played with the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra and participated in the Bergen Youth Orchestra as concertmaster.

A few days before leaving home to attend college at Rutgers, Clementi told his parents that he was gay. While his father supported him, Clementi said in an instant message to a friend that his mother had "basically completely rejected" him. In later interviews, Clementi's mother explained that she had been "sad" and "quiet" as she processed the information and that she "felt a little betrayed" that he had not previously confided in her that he was gay. She later noted that she had not been ready as a parent to publicly acknowledge having a gay son, partly because her evangelical church had taught that homosexuality was a sin. After their conversation, she said that she and Tyler cried, hugged, and said they loved each other. Jane Clementi said that she and Tyler spent the rest of the week together and spoke frequently on the phone when he was at Rutgers. According to his mother, Tyler seemed "confident" and "comfortable" after coming out and told her of having visited New York City with new friends.