After facing as much as ten years behind bars, a judge sentenced former Rutger's University student, Dharun Ravi, to 30 days in jail in a webcam spying case that captured the nation's attention.

Ravi's conviction came a year and a half after his former college roommate, Tyler Clementi, killed himself upon learning that Ravi and his friend, Molly Wei, video taped him having sex with another man, then streamed the video online and told other students to watch.

Though Ravi, could face deportation to India where he was born, the judge recommended that this not be imposed.

The sentencing has already elicited many reactions. What do you think of it? Has justice been served?

Related

• A Tragic String of Gay Teen Suicides
• What Do You Think Should Happen to the Students Being Charged in Tyler Clementi's Suicide?

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Wouldn't it be awesome if coming out was always a positive experience? Sadly, for too many teens, that's not always the case.

Here are some stories from kids who had bumpy coming out's and some tips for how to handle the negatives...

Related:

• Everyone Was Supportive When I Came Out
• I Came Out to My Mom First
• GLBT Teen Coming Out Stories: From Awesome Responses, to Awful Ones

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The other day I went to a great screening hosted by Scenarios USA. Scenarios USA is a Brooklyn-based organization that creates films written by teens from around the country, and then has them directed and produced by professionals with Hollywood credentials.

At the event, three films were shown and the audience had a chance to talk to some of the teen writers, as well as to the director, David Koepp, who worked with the Scenarios film, All Falls Down.

Watching these films with a group of educators was a great reminder of just how important it is to include teen voices when discussing things like sexual orientation, sexuality, and even day-to-day life.

If you get a chance, make sure to check out some of the films. And if you are feeling inspired, consider entering one of their contests and submitting a script yourself.  You can also read my review here...

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Wouldn't it be nice if one year around this time I didn't have to write about some school's ridiculous treatment of a same sex couple at prom?

Well, this is not the year. Yet another school has made yet another big deal about the fact that some girls want to go to prom with other girls and some guys want to go to prom with other guys.

The school in question is a Catholic one based in Kentucky and their method of dealing with a lesbian couple was to turn them away from their prom at the doors. And while they legally had the right to prevent the girls from going to prom (public school's on the other hand don't), many of us would argue that they didn't have a moral right.

As one of the girls told her local paper:

"I would understand and respect the school's decision if they truly upheld church teachings. They didn't forbid the entrance of all the couples who've had premarital sex and all the kids who planned to get drunk after the prom."

But in a nice twist on what could have simply been another downer of a story, it seems that the girls got a lot of support from their classmates. After getting turned away at the doors the couple, along with many of their friends, held their own prom in the school's parking lot.

Have you gone to prom with a same sex date? How did it go?

Related

• Can I Bring My Same Sex Date to Prom?
• Not Held to Title IX, Private Schools Can Still Ban Same Sex Couples From Prom
• Positive News on GLBT Teen Prom Experiences

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