New York ( CNN ) -- Almost 15 months since Tyler Clementi committed suicide , his older brother James wants people to know that `` he 's much more than the way that he died . '' Tyler was an 18-year-old freshman at Rutgers University in New Jersey when he jumped off the George Washington Bridge in New York on September 22 , 2010 , after prosecutors say his roommate and another Rutgers student spied on Clementi kissing another man via a computer webcam . His suicide ignited a media firestorm and thrust his brother into the national conversation in a way that James Clementi still finds difficult to grasp . `` There 's been so much attention and focus on my brother in the media in the last year and a half , since he passed , '' Clementi told CNN 's Jason Carroll in an interview airing Wednesday on `` Anderson Cooper 360 . '' `` But I felt like his voice and his personality , who he was , got lost completely in a lot of the dialogue that was out there about him . '' Clementi said the brother he grew up with for 18 years was quiet and shy , but also extremely curious about the world around him . `` Anything that he did n't know , he would find out everything there was to find out about it , '' he said . James , who is gay , said they had n't spoken about each other 's sexuality growing up , but when James finally came out to Tyler before Tyler left for college , he said his younger brother was becoming more comfortable with his own sexuality . `` I did n't want to push him , '' James said . `` I actually brought it up to him that I was gay , kind of hoping that he would reciprocate and tell me the same thing about himself . ... I just wanted him to know so that it would be a safe place and that if he did want to talk to me , he would be able to . '' Tyler told James he was gay , too , and James said it did n't `` seem to be any kind of burden or trouble for him , he seemed OK with it . '' James acknowledged that while Tyler seemed at peace with himself before leaving for college , he must have hidden a pain within him , and he wonders how long he was hiding it . `` I think he was being brave by being honest with the people around him about his sexuality , and I think he really tried to be a strong person and be an honest person , '' James said . `` It just seems like he was being punished for that forthrightness and made to be a joke or a laughingstock , and I think that must have taken its toll on him emotionally and mentally . '' Tyler Clementi 's roommate , Dharun Ravi , is facing a 15-count indictment , which includes hate crime charges , in connection with Tyler Clementi 's death . He is going on trial on February 21 . In December , Ravi turned down a plea deal that would have allowed him to avoid jail time . `` The trial is going to be incredibly emotional , '' James Clementi said . `` I think we 're just hoping for some kind of justice in the court system and putting our faith in the prosecution to do what they need to do . '' When asked whether he thinks about forgiving Ravi , Clementi acknowledged that he 's not quite `` there right now , '' but said he knows there will be a time for that . For now , James Clementi is memorializing Tyler in an Out Magazine article , `` Letters to My Brother . '' In one of the letters -- they all were written after Tyler 's death -- James asks how , after coming from the same background , Tyler always had a `` confidence and strength '' that James did n't see in himself . `` I still , in many ways , wish I was more like him , '' Clementi told CNN . `` The tragedy is that the sadness at the end was so much that it defines everything , but I think , to me , he is a strong and beautiful person and I admire him . '' CNN 's Jason Carroll contributed to this report .
`` The tragedy is that the sadness at the end ... defines everything , '' James Clementi says . Tyler Clementi killed himself after two students allegedly spied on him via webcam kissing a man . His roommate goes on trial this month on 15-count indictment , including hate crimes . James Clementi 's interview with CNN 's Jason Carroll airs on `` Anderson Cooper 360 ''