Finally, just what we have all been waiting for: Bryan Fischer weighs in on the tragic suicide of Tyler Clementi by saying that it was Clementi’s own shame at being gay that caused him to take his life:
[S]urely the event suggests that Mr. Clementi was conflicted about his own sexual preference. Had this twisted young students invaded the privacy of a married couple in the same way, the man and wife would be angry and embarrassed, and want to see these punk miscreants punished to the full extent of the law. But are they going to throw themselves off a bridge? Of course not. Why? Because there is nothing morally objectionable about a man having sex with his wife. It is the one relationship in which sexual intimacy can be enjoyed with moral approval and societal endorsement. So a married couple filmed in the same way would be embarrassed but not ashamed.
Mr. Clementi, on the other hand, was not only embarrassed but apparently deeply ashamed and consequently took his own life. There’s no evidence that I’ve seen that indicates that he was being bullied or harassed by others for his sexual preference. In some profound way, what he did was contrary to his own deep sense of what is right and what is wrong. He likely died full of guilt and shame, which is a terrible way to die.
For those who find themselves in Mr. Clementi’s position, surely there is a better resolution to such inner conflict than suicide. No one is compelled to yield to dark sexual impulses, no matter how strong they may be. We are not animals, driven by a mindless sexual energy; we are human beings made in the image of God who are capable of sexual restraint and capable of redirecting sexual energy in healthy and life-affirming directions.
Every form of sexual intimacy outside man-woman marriage, whether homosexual or heterosexual, is degrading, dehumanizing, and leads to what the Judeo-Christian tradition calls “the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves” (Romans 1:24).
No sexual conduct outside marriage should receive society’s endorsement, or receive special protections in law, or be subsidized and normalized by government … What Mr. Clementi did is tragic. But no other 18-year-old needs to repeat his terrible, self-destructive act. Change is possible, a change which offers the hope of normative sexuality, marriage, children, and a family to enjoy for the rest of one’s natural life. Let’s hope somebody in this situation has the courage to tell the truth to other 18-year-olds who may be tormented by same-sex attraction. There is a better way, and let’s hope other young men in Mr. Clementi’s position find it.
You will have to forgive me if I am not particularly moved by Fischer’s professed concern and sadness for the shame that Clementi may have felt, given that Fischer’s entire professional career is based on telling gays that they ought to be ashamed because they are all degenerates and perverts and criminals and terrorists and borderline pedophiles.
