I remember sitting in my brother’s room a couple weeks ago and seeing on Facebook that an eighteen-year-old student at Rutgers, Tyler Clementi, had committed suicide. I first thought, Oh, that’s a shame. I wonder if depression led to this. Interested in what had happened, I googled it. That’s when I found out that his roommate had used his webcam to record Tyler having sex with another guy. As if this weren’t enough of an invasion of privacy, his roommate livestreamed the images on the Internet for all to see. Understandably, Tyler was completely humiliated by this horrendous act of cruelty. A few days later, he jumped to his death off the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River. I sat staring at my laptop in shock, and I felt the most disgusted I’ve ever felt in my life.

Before long, we all became aware that Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg and Billy Lucas had also committed suicide as a direct result of homophobic bullying.

A few days later, my friend sent me an invitation to an event through Facebook to wear purple on October 20 for these teens and the many others we haven’t yet heard about who committed suicide as a result of homophobia. Thousands of people have agreed to wear purple to honor them. I wear a uniform to school every day, but I’m going to wear purple bracelets and a hair piece to remember these young people. This is one way to spread awareness about homophobic bullying. If you’re reading this and you are interested in participating, check out these Facebook events here, here and here.

So here’s to you, Tyler, Asher, Seth, Justin and Billy and others. May you rest in peace.

—Sara Racek, 17, Staff Writer

Imagine waking up every morning knowing that you’ll have to go to a school where you are tormented and bullied, all for something you can’t control. The sad truth is that this happens to students who are—or are perceived by their classmates to be—gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (GLBT).

Twenty-three senators recently introduced the Student Non-Discrimination Act of 2010 to protect GLBT students in public schools from harassment, bullying and violence. Students are already protected from bullying based on race, sex, religion, disability and national origin. This bill would extend those rights to students who are or are perceived to be GLBT.

The bullying of GLTB students leads to the increased likelihood of skipping school and even dropping out. According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s 2007 National School Climate Survey, 60 percent of GLBT students felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation and about a third skipped a day of school in the past month because of feeling unsafe.

Bullying not only affects students’ emotional health and their ability to learn at school, but can also end tragically. Lawrence King, who identified as gay, was allegedly murdered by a bully, and Carl Walker-Hoover took his own life after being bullied relentlessly because he was perceived to be gay. This new legislation wouldn’t just help protect GLBT students from harassment, but it could save lives.

—Taylor McCabe, 17, Staff Writer

For those who don’t know, the National Day of Silence is April 16th. It’s an annual event that brings attention to anti-GLBT name-calling and harassment in schools. On this day every year since 1996, students around the country have taken a day-long vow of silence to draw attention to and speak out against anti-GLBT behaviors.

Any student interested in participating should be silent between classes or out of school. The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, which organizes the Day of Silence through StudentOrganizing.org, recommends that if you intend to stay silent during class time as well, clear the event with your teachers and school administration. You can also Tweet the Silence by tweeting before or after school about what you’re doing to observe the Day of Silence.

If you’re participating, make sure you register, so that a count of participants can be made. For more information, visit DayofSilence.org and speak out (or don’t!) against anti-GLBT harassment in your school, community and around the country.

-Taylor McCabe, 17, Staff Writer

Imagine this: It’s your freshman year of college, and you’re moving into your new dorm. You meet your roommate, and you’re hoping to hit it off, since this is the person you’re going to be living with. As you’re getting to know each other, you find out she’s a lesbian. What would you say to that?

It’s not something I would make a big deal of. At least that’s what is running through my head as my teacher tells us about an “incident” where a girl from our school was paired with a lesbian roommate. Our teacher says that if we ever find ourselves in a similar situation we should switch rooms. Based on my teachers advice, you would think that sharing a room with someone who is gay or lesbian is as bad as sharing a room with a murderer. As I’m rolling my eyes at my teacher’s ignorance, one of the boys obnoxiously says that he would want to switch rooms because he would be afraid of being raped. I assure him he would have nothing to worry about and told him not to flatter himself.

Being gay or lesbian is not equivalent to being a rapist. Whether someone rapes another person has nothing to do with his or her sexual orientation. And being attracted to people of the same sex does not mean people who are gay or lesbian want to get with everyone they see who’s the same sex. Saying a gay or lesbian person wants every person they see is like saying a heterosexual guy likes every girl he looks at.

So, if you’re heterosexual, don’t assume every gay or lesbian person is really into you, because chances are they’re not. If you find yourself paired with a gay roommate it’s likely they’re not going to make a big deal out of it, so you shouldn’t either.

—Kristen Choucrallah, 16, Staff Writer