On September 22nd, 2010, 18-year-old gay Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi posted “Jumping off the gw bridge sorry” on his facebook page and proceeded to do just that. His suicide, along with the suicides of three other teenage boys within weeks of Clementi’s death, catapulted the gay teen suicide “epidemic” to the forefront of the national conversation.
The past few weeks, Clementi’s ex-roommate Dharun Ravi has been on trial for a laundry list of crimes related to Ravi’s supremely stupid decision to broadcast Clementi’s homosexual liaisons via webcam to his friends on September 19th and 21st, 2010.
Today the New Jersey jury trying his case came back with a guilty verdict on 15 different counts. They found him guilty of committing a hate crime against Clementi but not against his sexual partner, M.B.. From NJ.com, a complete list of the counts and their respective verdicts:
COUNT 1
* 4th Degree Invasion of Privacy, related to Tyler Clementi: GUILTY
* 4th Degree Invasion of Privacy, related to Clementi’s guest, M.B.: GUILTY
(Observed Clementi/M.B. in sexual contact without their consent on Sept. 19)
COUNT 2
3rd Degree Bias Intimidation
(For 4th Degree Invasion of Privacy charge on Sept. 19)
+ Invasion of Privacy with the purpose to intimidate Tyler Clementi because of sexual orientation: ACQUITTED
+ Invasion of Privacy with the purpose to intimidate M.B. because of sexual orientation: ACQUITTED
+ Invasion of Privacy, knowing that the conduct constituting invasion of privacy would cause Tyler Clementi to be intimidated because of sexual orientation: ACQUITTED
+ Invasion of Privacy, knowing that the conduct constituting invasion of privacy would cause M.B. to be intimidated because of sexual orientation: ACQUITTED
* Invasion of Privacy, under circumstances that caused Tyler Clementi to be intimidated, and considering the manner in which the offense was committed, Clementi reasonably believed that he was selected to be the target of the offense because of sexual orientation: GUILTY
COUNT 3
* 3rd Degree Invasion of Privacy, related to Tyler Clementi: GUILTY
* 3rd Degree Invasion of Privacy, related to M.B.: GUILTY
(Activated webcam so other people could view Clementi/M.B. in sexual contact on Sept 19.)
COUNT 4
2nd Degree Bias Intimidation
(For 3rd Degree Invasion of Privacy charge on Sept. 19)
+ Invasion of Privacy, with the purpose to intimidate Tyler Clementi because of sexual orientation: ACQUITTED
+ Invasion of Privacy, with the purpose to intimidate M.B. because of sexual orientation: ACQUITTED
* Invasion of Privacy, knowing that the conduct constituting invasion of privacy would cause Tyler Clementi to be intimidated because of sexual orientation: GUILTY
+ Invasion of Privacy, knowing that the conduct constituting invasion of privacy would cause M.B. to be intimidated, because of sexual orientation: ACQUITTED
* Invasion of Privacy, under circumstances that caused Tyler Clementi to be intimidated, and considering the manner in which the offense was committed, Clementi reasonably believed that he was selected to be the target of the offense because of sexual orientation: GUILTY
COUNT 5
* 4th Degree Attempted Invasion of Privacy, related to Tyler Clementi: GUILTY
* 4th Degree Attempted Invasion of Privacy, related to M.B.: GUILTY
(Tried to observe Clementi/M.B. in sexual contact without their consent on Sept. 21)
COUNT 6
3rd Degree Bias Intimidation
(For 4th Degree Invasion of Privacy charge on Sept. 21)
+ Invasion of Privacy, with the purpose to intimidate Tyler Clementi because of sexual orientation: GUILTY
+ Invasion of Privacy, with the purpose to intimidate M.B. because of sexual orientation: ACQUITTED
+ Invasion of Privacy, knowing that the conduct constituting invasion of privacy would cause Tyler Clementi to be intimated because of sexual orientation: GUILTY
+ Invasion of Privacy, knowing that the conduct constituting invasion of privacy would cause M.B. to be intimidated because of sexual orientation: ACQUITTED
+ Invasion of Privacy, under circumstances that caused Tyler Clementi to be intimidated, and considering the manner in which the offense was committed, Clementi reasonably believed that he was selected to be the target of the offense because of sexual orientation: GUILTY
COUNT 7
* 3rd Degree Attempted Invasion of Privacy, related to Tyler Clementi: GUILTY
* 3rd Degree Attempted Invasion of Privacy, related to M.B.: GUILTY
(Tried to show Clementi/M.B. in sexual contact to other people on Sept. 21)
COUNT 8
2nd Degree Bias Intimidation
(For 3rd Degree Attempted Invasion of Privacy charge on Sept. 21)
* Invasion of Privacy, with the purpose to intimidate Tyler Clementi because of sexual orientation: GUILTY
+ Invasion of Privacy, with the purpose to intimidate M.B. because of sexual orientation: ACQUITTED
* Invasion of Privacy, knowing that the conduct constituting invasion of privacy would cause Tyler Clementi to be intimidated because of sexual orientation: GUILTY
+ Invasion of Privacy, knowing that the conduct constituting invasion of privacy would cause M.B. to be intimidated because of sexual orientation: ACQUITTED
* Invasion of Privacy, under circumstances that caused Tyler Clementi to be intimidated, and considering the manner in which the offense was committed, Clementi reasonably believed that he was selected to be the target of the offense because of sexual orientation: GUILTY
COUNT 9
* 4th Degree Tampering with Physical Evidence: GUILTY
(Deleted tweets relevant to police investigation)
COUNT 10
* 4th Degree Tampering with Physical Evidence: GUILTY
(Wrote and posted a false tweet)
COUNT 11
* 3rd Degree Hindering Apprehension or Prosecution: GUILTY
(Destroyed evidence relevant to investigation)
COUNT 12
* 3rd Degree Hindering Apprehension or Prosecution: GUILTY
(Prevented a witness from providing testimony)
COUNT 13
* 3rd Degree Hindering Apprehension or Prosecution: GUILTY
(Lied to police)
COUNT 14
* 3rd Degree Witness Tampering: GUILTY
(Tried to influence what Molly Wei told police)
COUNT 15
* 4th Degree Tampering with Physical Evidence: GUILTY
(Deleted text messages sent to and received from witnesses)
Ravi now faces possible deportation to his native India and/or up to ten years in prison, as well as a potential permanent position in the innermost circle of hell. I was surprised, honestly, by this verdict, if only because being LGBT means you assume the case will never really go your way. You always wonder if someone on the jury might consider Clementi less-than-human because of his sexual orientation, or might think “gay panic” justifies the accused’s illegal actions — you never know with these things. Ravi clearly had a hard time understanding that actions have repercussions — the cockiness inherent in his attempt to cover evidence and change his friends’s testimony as if he’d get away with that says it all, really. Ravi is a huge asshole. He deserved all 15 of these guilty verdicts.
That being said, I’ve been consistently uneasy with the dialogue around Clementi’s case, especially as its been held up as The Example of how bullying gay teens can lead to suicide, particularly when unlike many other suicides, the cause/effect in this case is basically speculation (logical deduction, but speculation nonetheless). If you’re not already familiar with the case, it’s important to mention that although Clementi had no idea how widely his date was being broadcast, most accounts verify that it was only up online for a few minutes at most, the image was pretty crappy, and only a handful of kids actually saw it. I’m not saying this to excuse Ravi, obviously, but because I think that’s an important thing to think about when imagining Tyler’s state of mind. The entire school seeing you naked could certainly motivate suicide in and of itself, but in Clementi’s case I imagine there were other factors at work.
Having pored through every ounce of evidence and testimony as well as every G-Chat and phone text ever between Clementi and Ravi and their friends that fall, I personally believe that the story has been vastly oversimplified (as these stories so often are). I address this in detail in my post The Last Days of Tyler Clementi: New Questions, Some Answers. It’s clear that Clementi had been struggling with depression for some time, was having issues with his family, and that the social anxiety he carried with him all his life manifested itself in full during his first few weeks at Rutgers. He was lonely and insecure — a familiar feeling to many of us — and spent September in fluctuating states of self-consciousness, doubt and probably also a hefty dose of self-loathing. Clementi was, and of this I am sure, an introvert, and Ravi was a very passionate extrovert, and in this way (among, obviously, others) they were a rooming match made in hell.
Finding Ravi guilty is one step, and it’s a small “victory” if you can call it that, but it doesn’t lessen all the work that still needs to be done. Ravi will be punished for his carelessness, his recklessness, and his complete disregard for the feelings and privacy of others. Ravi will be punished for treating his roommate differently on account of his roommate’s sexuality. But if Clementi hadn’t killed himself, would Ravi still have been indicted for his crimes or would it just have been another one of the ten gabillion shitty things people do to LGBT kids and other outcasts? Would it have been handled internally, or “solved” by getting Clementi a new roommate? Some mention that the issues around technology raised by this case are part of what made it so attractive to try. What if Ravi and Clementi had been in high school instead of college? In middle school?
I guess I’m wondering here about the kids who physically assaulted, threatened, tormented and harassed 13-year-old Asher Brown, 13-year-old Seth Walsh, 14-year-old Samantha Johnson, 14-year-old Justin Aaberg, 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer and so many more without reproach — does it surprise anyone that Ravi thought he’d never be held accountable for messing with the gay kid? Will it change anything that he has? What can we actually take away from the trial and sentencing of Dharun Ravi that will make a difference? I retain this small hope: that we acknowledge that it isn’t just kids who bully, it’s adults too, and that “having gay friends” or supporting gay rights or having “nothing against gay people” doesn’t mean a goddamn thing when you’re denying an actual living-and-breathing gay person your friendship, your support, your kindness and your mercy.
