Tyler's death is tragic on so many levels. These guys were new freshmen roommates and given we're early in the semester, probably didn't know one another well. This is an example of youthful stupidity--not a hate crime. The surreptitious broadcast of Tyler and a male friend was an egregious invasion of privacy and far beyond the pale in moral terms to be sure, but how many times has this same type of thing happened with straight couples and particularly to naive girls who forwarded a "boyfriend" a nude pic.
Just as tragic as the lapse of moral judgment on the part of his roommate and the roommate's female accomplice, is that the embarrassment was exacerbated by our societal attitudes regarding homosexuality. (Were he streamed on the Internet having sex with a female, it would still be an intolerable breach of privacy, but would the incident have resulted in suicide?) So sad that Tyler only had a gay message board to turn to for advice. To be 19 and so isolated from family, friends, faculty and campus/community support services is almost as tragic as the suicide itself.
Yes, prosecute the perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law and file suit against them for wrongful death. But as long as it's considered acceptable conduct to verbally or physically gay bash and demonize and legally discriminate against gays, we can expect more tragic deaths.
