Gay rights have been making national headlines, and some members of UF’s LGBTQ community think it’s about time.
In 2010, former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi used a webcam to view his roommate, Tyler Clementi, being intimate with a man. Ravi told friends and Twitter followers there would be another viewing.
The next day, Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge.
Ravi was convicted May 21 of intimidation as a hate crime and tampering with evidence, according to a New York Times article. He faced up to 10 years in prison but received 30 days and community service.
Outgoing UF Pride Student Union president and English senior Ricky Carter, 22, said the LGBTQ community wasn’t pushing for the maximum sentence for Ravi.
Carter said he thinks most members of the gay community are satisfied with the sentence. They didn’t want a witch hunt.
The trial sends a clear message that the justice system will take action when people are harassed and their privacy is invaded, he said.
“You cannot bully people,” Carter said. “You cannot harass people.”
Ravi’s sentencing trended on Twitter and was prominently featured on major news channels and online sites in the days before and after the verdict.
UF’s Assistant Director of Multicultural and Diversity Affairs, Lauren Hannahs, 27, said she thought coverage of the case brought much-needed attention to harassment of gay people, but the media were misguided in framing the issue as new.
She said the media didn’t pay enough attention to the history of homophobic behavior or how deeply it is embedded in this country.
“It’s socially acceptable to be homophobic,” said Hannahs, who directs Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs.
In April, UF Student Senate President Aundre Price announced the Bias and Apprehension Committee to review university policy on hate crimes.
In the past, Hannahs said, universities typically handled student hate crimes internally. The Dharun Ravi case set new standards by taking the crimes to court.
President Barack Obama was recently featured on a May cover of Newsweek magazine with a rainbow halo as “The First Gay President.”
Hannahs said she thinks the high-profile nature of Ravi’s sentencing is not strongly linked to Obama’s May 9 endorsement of same-sex marriage. Instead, she attributed media coverage to increasing acceptance of the LGBTQ community.
“I think it’s a trajectory of where the country is going,” she said.
