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Facebook Works To Remove Anti-Gay Hate Speech

NEW YORK (AP) -- Facebook is working with a gay-advocacy group to reduce the amount of hate speech and bullying on the online social hub.

Anti-gay bullying has been in the spotlight recently after the suicides of several gay teenagers, including Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi, garnered national attention. According to police, the 19-year-old jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate secretly recorded him with another male student and distributed video online.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation says it reached out to Facebook last week after Internet bullies flooded a page set up to honor teens who recently killed themselves in response to anti-gay hate.

Facebook says its policies prohibit hateful content and it has systems in place to take down such posts as soon as possible.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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