For The First Time The Clementi Parents Speak Up About Rhabi’s Leniency

The parents of Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide after he was targeted for being gay, spoke for the first time since his roommate Dharun Ravi was convicted of hate crimes against their son. 

Jane and Joe Clementi said they believed Ravi's actions contributed to Tyler's death and that his sentence was too lenient. The devoutly Christian couple had also become more tolerant of homosexuality. 

Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University in New Jersey, threw himself off the George Washington bridge after discovering that his roommate was spying on him with a webcam two years ago. 

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Learning to accept: Jane and Joe Clementi said they have changed their opinion of homosexuality after their son Tyler committed suicide after being bullied at Rutgers University, New Jersey

Mrs Clementi spoke of her anguish over the fact Tyler told a friend that his mother had rejected him after he told her he was gay. She did not know that he had interpreted her response in this way. 

The family, including his two older brothers have started a charity called the Tyler Clementi Foundation to stop cyber-bullying and promote acceptance.

Mr Clementi told NBC's Rock Center: 'Sin needs to be taken out of homosexuality. Our children need to understand – and adults need to understand – that they're not broken.'

 

 

In September 2010, Tyler had asked his roommate Ravi if he could have their shared dorm to himself that evening. 

Ravi, then 20, set up a friend's computer to view a few seconds of live streaming video from his own dorm-room webcam and saw Tyler and another man kissing.

Tragic: Tyler Clementi committed suicide in September 2010, days after Ravi used a webcam to see live streaming video of Clementi and another man kissing

He told others about it in person, in texts, instant messages and tweets - and alerted others again two days later that Clementi, 18, wanted the room to himself again. That time, the camera did not operate.

A night later, Clementi committed suicide. His story has been held up since then as a prime example of what can go wrong when young gays are bullied, though Ravi was not charged with the death.

However his parents believe that Ravi's actions may have contributed to their son's suicide and that the sensitive teen couldn't cope with the idea that his college friends were laughing behind his back. 

Leaving jail: A bearded Dharun Ravi, right, convicted of a hate crime for using a webcam to spy on his roommate's gay tryst, leaves Middlesex County jail after completing 20 days of his 30-day sentence. His lawyer, Steven Altman, left, picked him up around 8:30 am

Ravi was convicted on March of 15 criminal charges, including bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and tampering with a witness. 

A judge sentenced him to 30 days in jail - far less than the 10-year prison sentence he could have given him. He served only 20 days.

The Clementis said that the short sentence sent the wrong message, showing to others that there was no consequences to bullying.