There’s been much internet-related gay news this week. Some of it, the first of its kind, and some, downright sad. Eighteen year old Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University, New Jersey, committed suicide is thought to have jumped off the George Washington bridge after a video of him being intimate with another man went viral on the internet.
Two of Clementi’s classmates Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei have been charged with two counts of invasion of privacy. Ravi streamed a video of Clementi over the internet, using a camera in the room he shared with Clementi. Earlier that day, Ravi tweeted, “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”
Ravi made another attempt to broadcast another video of Clementi, a couple of days later. This time his Twitter feed said, “Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes, it’s happening again.”
The episode quicky became the subject of gossip, and it is suspected Clementi ended his life out of shame.
A woman in China reportedly won a compensation claim worth 80,000 yuan after she complained of sexual harassment over the internet. The thirty four year old woman claimed that the defendant- a woman, had tormented her online for three years. After being introduced to each other by the defendant’s husband, the two began chatting frequently, after which the defendant began displaying affection towards the plaintiff. Once she became aware of the unwanted attention, she ended her online conversations, only to be met with a barrage of emails and SMSes. The plaintiff said that she was forced to quit her job due to the mental trauma caused by the stress of the defendant’s actions, and instituted a suit claiming compensation.
The first incident is shameful, and I don’t know if it’s only me, but I’m even more enraged that the perpetrator is an Indian. It’s not the fact that a kid killed himself (which in my opinion is a bit of an overreaction), but the fact that someone could be so callous is what is causing the anger. The second is pretty cool though, don’t you think? The fact that homosexuals are recognised as a part of the mainstream to such an extent, that a woman would even win a sexual harassment claim against another woman. That’s always good news.