Despite rain and startling cold weather, at least two thousand people converged upon Manhattan’s Washington Square Park, the heart of New York University’s Greenwich Village campus, to pay homage to teens who were literally bullied to death across the country in September. Concerned citizens, family members, friends, and students all came together at NYU’s LGBTQA leaders and DLP fraternity’s quickly yet effectively-organized, “You-Are-Loved Glowlight Vigil,” to show their support, and tell victims of bullying everywhere, “You are loved.”
Governor David Paterson made a surprise appearance, and promised New York would get its own cyber-bullying law.
Supporters encircled the park’s fountain, while a few of the lucky ones huddled beneath the towering arch to gain protection from the rain. Governor Paterson detailed the events leading up to the suicide from the George Washington Bridge of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University student, and mentioned the names of several other teens who also succumbed to suicide last month, acknowledging that those are “the ones we know of.”
(In fact, there are at least nine teens who were bullied to death in September, at least eight were victims of anti-gay bullying.)
For almost an hour, neon red, blue, green, and yellow glow-sticks illuminated the umbrella-covered vigil. After several speeches, thousands sang, “Over The Rainbow,” then chanted, repeatedly, “human rights for all.”
Others, as they exited the park around 10:00 PM took time to write messages of love and hope on the asphalt walkways, knowing they would soon be consumed by the rain.