Tyler Clementi

Tyler Clementi (December 19, 1991 – September 22, 2010) was an American student at Rutgers University–New Brunswick who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River on September 22, 2010, at the age of 18.

Tyler 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.

Ravi and Wei met while students at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North.

Prior to arriving at Rutgers, Ravi tried to find information about his new roommate online.

On Twitter, Ravi referred to having seen Clementi's communications on JustUsBoys, a pornographic website and message board for gay men, and tweeted "Found out my roommate is gay".

Clementi also researched his roommate and read postings on Ravi's Twitter page.

After Ravi and Clementi moved in together, they rarely interacted or spoke.

Ravi's text messages to friends described Clementi as shy and awkward.

Clementi's online conversations and text messages referred to his amusement at Ravi's construction of a private changing area, but Clementi said he appreciated the fact that Ravi left him alone and did not force an excessively social atmosphere.

On September 19 and 21, Clementi asked Ravi for use of their room for those evenings.

On the first occasion, Ravi met Clementi's male companion, and Clementi said that the two wanted to be alone for the evening.

Ravi has stated that he was worried about theft and that he left the computer in a state where he could view the webcam stream due to those concerns.

Other witnesses testified that Ravi said he also wanted to confirm that Clementi was gay.

Ravi and Wei viewed the video stream via iChat for a few seconds, seeing Clementi and his guest kissing.

Later, Wei turned on the camera for another view with four others in the room, though Ravi was not there.

During this second viewing, Wei and others saw Clementi and his guest kissing, partially disrobed.

On September 20, Clementi, who followed Ravi's Twitter account, read a message that Ravi sent a few minutes after the webcam viewing the previous day.

Ravi wrote: "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay."

According to a Rutgers employee, at about 4 a.m. on September 21, Clementi sent an online request for a single room because his "roommate used webcam to spy on me."

On September 21, Ravi posted text messages saying that there would be a viewing party to watch Clementi and his guest, along with directions on how to view it remotely.

At 6:39 p.m., Ravi tweeted, "Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes, it's happening again."

Ravi had set up the webcam and pointed it towards Clementi's bed.

When Clementi returned to his room, he noticed the camera and texted a friend saying he had unplugged Ravi's powerstrip to prevent further video streaming during his date.

Ravi has said that he had changed his mind regarding the broadcast and disabled the camera himself by putting the computer in sleep mode.

On September 19, 2010, without Clementi's knowledge, his roommate, Dharun Ravi, used a webcam on his dorm room computer and his hallmate Molly Wei's computer to view Clementi kissing another man.

Clementi found out after Ravi posted about the webcam incident on Twitter.

Two days later, Ravi urged friends and Twitter followers to watch a second encounter between Clementi and his companion, though the viewing never occurred.

Ravi and Wei were both indicted for their roles in the webcam incidents, though they were not charged with a role in the suicide itself.

On May 6, 2011, Wei entered a plea agreement granting her immunity and allowing her to avoid prosecution.

Ravi went to trial in early 2012, and was convicted on May 21, 2012, on all charges related to the webcam viewing, with the jury additionally finding that Clementi reasonably believed that Ravi had targeted him for his romantic orientation, thus making Ravi guilty of committing hate crimes against Clementi.

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.