Nearly five years after their son committed suicide, the parents of Tyler Clementi say they're not close to healing, in an interview with Erin Moriarty for CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH CHARLES OSGOOD to broadcast June 7 (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network.
Tyler Clementi was a Rutgers University student who jumped from the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22, 2010 after being bullied by his roommate for being gay. He took his own
LIFE AFTER learning his roommate used a webcam to broadcast Clementi's intimate moments with another man.
Jane Clementi tells
48 HOURS Correspondent Erin Moriarty she's far from being healed.
"Not even near healed," Clementi tells Moriarty. "I don't know what 'healed' will be like. I don't even know that there's a word for healing. I think it's learning to live through the pain."
The Clementi family opens up to Moriarty about Tyler's life, his fears about revealing he was gay, what they might have done differently as a family, as well as providing advice for other families in similar situations.
The Clementis also say that parents who learn their child is gay must, in a sense, also "come out" as well, in terms of understanding what their children are going through and what they're adapting.
"I think a lot of parents hide," Jane Clementi says. "And they don't talk about their gay children. And they don't share what's happening in their gay children's lives. And, I know when Tyler told me he was gay, what I really wanted was a person of faith, another Christian mom, to go and talk to. But, you know, no one in my faith community ever talked about having a gay child. No one had a gay relative - there was no 'gay' in our church."
Four years ago, the Clementi family launched the Tyler Clementi Foundation, which is focused on ending online and offline bullying. This week, the foundation is rolling out a new campaign called "Day One," designed to get people to standup on the first day of school or work and say they'll never treat others differently because of their faith, sex, dress or looks.
Jane Clementi says she can't think ahead to the September anniversary of her son's death. "Whenever I start thinking too far ahead like that, I just get into such a deep, sad place, that I've learned to stay present in the moment," she says.
"Don't underestimate what your child is going through," says Tyler's father, Joe Clementi. "Even though you may not think it's a big deal, they may think it's the end of the world."
CBS SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays (9:00-10:30 AM, ET) on the
CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.
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