Peter’s boyfriend, Martin, goes to Paris to try and move on with his life, but meets another young man tormented by his sexuality who seems to be heading down the same irrevocable path. In my own novel, Conquering Venus ($14.95, Vanilla Heart), the story is set in motion by the suicide of a high school student, Peter, fearful that family and friends will abandon him if they discover he is gay. So although the media glare has revealed that bullying is an epidemic, LGBT novelists have long tackled this issue in the pages of their books. Clementi jumped from the George Washington Bridge.Ĭlementi’s death also brought attention to three other teen suicides–Seth Walsh, Asher Brown and Billy Luca–that occurred in September all had been bullied over their sexuality. We’ll never know exactly how many LGBT teens have taken their lives because of physical or cyber bullying.

Clementi’s dormmate secretly recorded the teen having sex with another man, sent out messages on Twitter and broadcast it across the Internet.

In September, the suicide of 18-year-old Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi was a tragic close to a shocking month of gay teens taking their own lives. 10 LGBT Teen Novels that Tackle Teen Suicide & Bullying

Finlater by Shawn Stewart Ruff