The devastated parents of a U.S. student who committed suicide after a film of him having sex was streamed live on the internet by his roommate have broken their silence.

Tyler Clementi, 18, is thought to have jumped to his death from a bridge after discovering his sexual encounter with another man had been streamed live to other students by a roommate at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Today his parents said they hoped their tragedy would serve as a call for empathy.

They spoke as America's gay community was reeling from an 'epidemic' of suicides by teenage boys who were being bullied about their sexuality.

The trend is so disturbing it prompted chat show host Ellen DeGeneres, who is openly gay, to make an emotional appeal for action on Thursday.

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Echoing her words, today Clementi's parents spoke out.

'Regardless of legal outcomes, our hope is that our family's personal tragedy will serve as a call for compassion, empathy and human dignity,' Joe and Jane Clementi said in a statement.

'Needless to say, public attention has been intense,' the statement read.