By Victor M Adamus
 |
| Dharun Ravi |
I followed from a distance the tragedy of Tyler Clementi, a
talented young student who jumped to his death from New York’s George
Washington Bridge, September 2010. He
learned that his roommate had secretly video taped him kissing another male
student and then posted it on the internet.
This type of insensitivity went from the community calling out the
roommate for being a bully to charges much worse in a court of law.
I was also with the people, the media who had listened to
the prosecution and saw justice in this hate crime deserving of 10 years in
prison and deportation. Dharun Ravi is
from India. The jury found him guilty on
all 15 counts. Kinda blew the roof off the
courthouse. The jury, obviously, was
sending a message to the bullies in schools across the nation and it is the right
message, in my opinion.
Imagine the shock to hear yesterday Judge Glenn Berman
sentence Ravi to 30 days in jail and 300 hours of community service. No doubt the prosecution will appeal. But the Judge felt it was an “insensitivity
issue” even though Ravi had shown no remorse.
The sentence is insufficient under New York State Law. Yet few lawyers think it will be
overturned.
Does it send a message to the gay community? One gay activist in New Jersey said, “Gay
kids across the nation need to know that life matters.” Others have warned gay kids to stay positive
but aloof from the hetero community.
Still others have said the sentence sends the wrong message to schools
across the nation.
Clementi’s brother said at the ruling that as excited as his
brother was to attend college, “He could never have known the viper’s nest he
was walking into”.
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