Tyler Clementi
James and Jane Clementi received the Pride Award
Tyler Clementi’s family ‘validated’ by LGBTQ Pride Award
By Jessica Mazzola | NJ Advance Media, for NJ.com
James and his mother Jane were in Newark this afternoon to accept the annual Pride Award from the Essex County LGBTQ Pride Month Celebration. The Clementi family, who started a foundation in the wake of 18-year-old Tyler’s very publicized suicide weeks after starting his freshman year at Rutgers in 2010, was nominated to receive this year’s award by the county’s LGBTQ Advisory Board.
“I wish Tyler could have had the acceptance that he craved so much,” James Clementi said of his brother, who jumped off the George Washington Bridge days after his college roommate recorded and tweeted about Clementi’s sexual relationship with another man.
James and his parents said they started the Tyler Clementi Foundation in an attempt to work with struggling LGBTQ youths and their families, and to advocate for equality and against bullying.
“I wish [Tyler] could be here today,” James, who came out publicly himself in a People Magazine article after his brother’s suicide, said at the ceremony.