The suicide of 18-year-old Tyler Clementi has caused quite a stir when it comes to concerns over the bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. But as advocates try to raise awareness for the LGBT cause, are they forgetting the larger picture?

LGBT youths are four times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual individuals and, because of the secrecy that many individuals practice when it comes to their sexuality, the rate could be even higher. The recent string of homosexual suicides in the media has made Americans more aware of this disparity and many have mobilized against it.

But this coverage is not without its controversy, as Erik Eckholm discusses in a recent article in The New York Times, ‘In Efforts to End Bullying, Some See Agenda.’

Accusations of using these suicides to promote homosexuality rather than to denounce intolerance aside, there is an issue with the movement. As our nation works together to solve the LGBT issue, we mustn’t forget that more than 34,000 people commit suicide each year, and that is only counting cases in America. It’s the third-leading cause of death for people ages 15 to 24 years, behind only homicide in second and accidents in first. These statistics include both heterosexual and homosexual individuals.

Suicide, and more importantly bullying, actions of exclusion and alienation and a growing prevalence of feelings of self-loathing are all problems that affect everyone, no matter your sexual orientation. These problems need to be taken out from the root and should not be fought group by group or ‘top-down.’

Take, for example, Tyler Clementi’s case. First and foremost, it is a case of Clementi’s roommate, Dharun Ravi, invading his privacy by using his webcam to stream and broadcast Clementi’s personal life in order to put him on display for all to ridicule.

It is secondly a case, for the LGBT community, of a man who felt forced into suicide because of a premature revelation of his sexual orientation and his inability to comfortably live in a world where this was known.

Unfortunately, the problem of being uncomfortable with oneself as an individual spreads far beyond just LGBT people.

What if, through his mischief, Ravi had instead discovered that his roommate was an avid ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ player and, when the news was broadcast to the world and ridicule followed, Clementi committed suicide? Such a case would probably not have gotten as much media attention as the actual case has gotten, though both are equally important.

The media and much of the LGBT community have allowed Clementi’s story to become engulfed by its homosexual connotations; all other implications to the story have been put aside. The rampant intolerance of people’s hobbies, physical characteristics, likes, dislikes, etc. is something that is unfortunately only brought to light in the extreme cases of suicide, and these stories are usually pigeonholed into a problem of technology or some other straw man.

Harassment is something that a variety of living individuals must deal with in settings varying from school to the sidewalk, over an assortment of mediums, and it comes from people that can include the victims’ friends, parents or even strangers. The nation must move to ensure that all individuals, no matter their specifics, can live comfortably doing what they enjoy.

LGBT activists who want to fight against intolerance need to be wary of creating an ‘us against them’ mentality. They need to understand that they are not the only ones who are ridiculed, and they need to take a more general stance. When discussing harassment and abuse, why worsen the problem by making the dividing lines that have been hastily drawn even bolder?