By Jon Salacuse (Whetstone Staff Writer)
Have you ever walked around campus and heard someone say, “Oh, that’s so gay!†or, “Faggot�
Those are just words, right? No way they could hurt anyone?
Wrong.
Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University, committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate put online a video of him having a gay encounter.
I was disgusted and enraged.
This is a horrible way to “out†someone.
I sympathize with what Tyler was going through and can understand the anxiety and fear of having to hide a part of yourself.
Why do we have to hide who we are?
Because we often are met with intolerance, judgment and just plain cruelty.
Some have said that it was a prank that got out of hand. But I don’t buy it.
Pranks are supposed to be between friends, and give everyone a laugh.
This was no prank.
And it had happened before. The roommate had done this to another student in more than two videos.
To take a person’s innermost secret and put it out over the Internet is vicious.
We live in a culture where being gay is looked upon as something embarrassing, something that should be hidden.
I don’t know what he was feeling when he climbed over the railing of the bridge that night.
I don’t know what he was feeling when he used his phone to change his Facebook status to “Jumping off gw bridge sorry,†before he jumped.
But I have a good idea.
He felt alone, ashamed and scared.
He felt as though he would face prejudice and be looked at differently.
I hope that people can learn from this.
