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School Board Apologizes For Censoring
Gay
Kiss Photo In Yearbook
by
365Gay.com, June 25, 2007
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Trenton, New Jersey -- The
Newark School District Monday said that it had made a mistake when it censored a
photograph of a gay kiss in the 2007 yearbook at East Side High School.
In a statement the district said that Superintendent Marion A. Bolden has
apologized to student Andre Jackson, 18, and would reissue an "un-redacted
version" of the yearbook to any student at the school who wants one.
"Superintendent Marion A. Bolden personally apologizes to Mr. Jackson and
regrets and embarrassment and unwanted attention the matter has brought to
him,'' according to the statement.
But the teen told a Newark news conference that he is not satisfied.
At no point before issuing the press statement did Bolden or other school
district officials speak to him Jackson told reporters and said he is "deeply
hurt" by having had to learn of the apology through a press release.
Jackson said it was "ridiculous" that Bolden had not called him beforehand and
said that he continues to feel humiliated by the school district's redaction of
the photo of him kissing boyfriend David Escobales,19.
The district's explanation for blacking out the pictures also has left him
dissatisfied.
"The decision was based, in part, on misinformation that Mr. Jackson was not one
of our students and our review simply focused on the suggestive nature of the
photograph,'' the district said in its statement.
Earlier, when Bolden was questioned about the blacked out picture, she told the
Star-Ledger that the photograph was "illicit".
"It looked provocative," she told the paper. "If it was either
heterosexual or gay, it should have been blacked out. It's how they posed
for the picture."
Bolden ordered staff at the school to use magic markers to obliterate the
picture after it was brought to her attention by a board official.
Jackson learned the shot had been blacked out when he picked up his copy.
He, like a number of other students, had bought a page in the yearbook to place
pictures of himself and a commemorative message.
Garden State Equality, New Jersey's largest LGBT civil rights organization,
demanded the school board redistribute the yearbooks without the photo covered
up, and called for Bolden to publicly apologize to the student, his boyfriend
and the LGBT community.
The organization said that Bolden's action was "not only homophobic [but] also
very likely unlawful."
New Jersey law bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity
and expression.
In addition, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in February that schools are
legally obligated to protect LGBT students from discrimination and bullying in
the same way employees are protected in the workplace. (story)
Same-sex relationships also have legal recognition in New Jersey under the
state's civil union law.
Jackson paid $150 for the yearbook page and said that the book is filled with
pictures of opposite-sex teen couples kissing.
"We were kissing, which everyone does when they're in a relationship," he told
the Star-Ledger." They are expressing happiness and love for the person
they care about," he added. "It wasn't that I wanted everyone to see and
see I'm gay. I wanted everyone to feel the love I feel."
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