The parents of Tyler Clementi say they have left their longtime village church due to its views on homosexuality.
Jane Clementi told the New York Times that she decided she could no longer attend Grace Church in Ridgewood because doing so would suggest she supported its teachings against homosexuality. Clementi also say she took strength from reading the Bible as she reconsidered her views on the topic.
Clementi's son, Tyler, killed himself by jumping off the George Washington Bridge in 2010. His death came just days after his roommate had used a webcam to spy on Clementi's romantic liaison with a man in their freshman dorm at Rutgers University.
Jane Clementi told the newspaper that she had previously regarded homosexuality as sinful, and that she ``wasn't ready'' to deal with the reality of a gay son. But since her son's death, Clementi says several friends and fellow parishioners have told her they have gay children, which they had previously been reluctant to reveal.
Tyler Clementi's death garnered national attention and made him a symbol of the perils of mistreating young gays. His roommate, Dharun Ravi, was convicted in March on 15 criminal counts, including invasion of privacy and bias intimidation, and he served a short prison sentence this summer.
Prosecutors have asked an appeals court to give Ravi a longer term, finding the 30-day sentence he received too lenient, but Ravi is arguing to have his conviction overturned.
Clementi's parents still struggle to understand what prompted the promising college freshman to kill himself, blaming the bad luck of a roommate lottery and the cowardice of students who failed to step up and say that the spying was wrong. And while the family is devoting itself to a foundation promoting acceptance with the hope of preventing the suicides of gay teenagers, Jane Clementi said she has had to grapple with her own role in Tyler's death.
“People talk about coming out of the closet – it is parents coming out of the closet, too,” she said. “I wasn't really ready for that.”
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