High School Censors Gay Kiss In Yearbook

(AP)  A New Jersey school district said Monday it regretted ordering a picture of a male student kissing his boyfriend blacked out from all copies of a high school yearbook and said it apologized to the student.

Andre Jackson, the student, said he was disappointed that the Newark schools superintendent had not delivered the apology face-to-face and in public. Because of that, he said he did not accept it as sincere.

"I would accept an apology — a public apology," said Jackson, 18.

Jackson said he learned of the apology through the media.

The district issued a statement Monday saying it regretted the decision and that it would issue an unredacted version of the yearbook to any student of East Side High School who wants one.

"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.

"Superintendent Marion A. Bolden personally apologizes to Mr. Jackson and regrets any embarrassment and unwanted attention the matter has brought to him."

District spokeswoman Valerie Merritt said Bolden would meet with Jackson on Tuesday.

Jackson said his teachers, classmates and his parents all knew he was gay and that his sexual orientation was never a problem at school.

"I've never had to deal with this before," he said. "It's shocking. It's crazy."

Previously, Bolden had described the picture, which showed Jackson kissing boyfriend David Escobales, as "illicit."

"If it was either heterosexual or gay, it should have been blacked out. It's how they posed for the picture," Bolden told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Saturday's editions.

In the photo, Jackson is seen turning his head back over his right shoulder and kissing Escobales, 19, of Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was blacked out after Russell Garris, the district's assistant superintendent who oversees the city's high schools, told Bolden he was concerned that the photo could upset parents.

The photo was among several that appeared on a special personal tribute page in the yearbook.

Jackson, who paid $150 for the page, noted that the yearbook is filled with pictures of heterosexual couples kissing.

Newark public schools have about 42,000 students, making it the largest district in New Jersey.

[markbrookhar]

Jolsonbear, Thank you for your comment.

Please do not assume I think like some Christians that remarriage after divorce is OK with God. It is adultery and equally judged with other sin. I am grateful to God that Christ died for our sins, and when we admit, repent, and confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 I am as much a sinner as any other, and look to the blood of Christ to forgive me.

You are right, many Christians are very inconsistant, we all are, and "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Rom 3. But forgiveness is not licence to continue in sin. Romans 6:1 "Should we continue in sin, that grace should abound, God forbid..." etc.
The issue is not homos@xual sin.... the issue is our refusal to repent of our sins, or agree with God's word regarding our sins.

Before you accuse me again of ignoring parts of the Bible I do not like, read Gal. 3 which explains the purpose of the Law and our inability to follow it, to reveal our need for Christ as Savior and sacrifice in our place.

I agree that most Christians are "buffet style" believers. But our faults do not nullify the Righteousness of God or the truth of His word. He is the Judge, we are only to be witnesses to His word, as imperfectly as we may report it, in our limited understanding.

May God bless you in your continued study and search for His will for your life.

[markbrookhar]

God loves us just as we are, and starts with us there; but He also loves us enough not to leave us that way, (in our sins) but to change us into a closer reflection of His Son Jesus as we repent of our sins and commit to follow Christ.

Romans 1 states that s@xually immoral people don't like to give up their sins- 26For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. 28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29being filled with all unrighteousness, s@xual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

It seems that I see a lot of these attitudes in the blog posts on this subject.

BTW, the "serenity prayer" is not scripture, but just a nice poem someone wrote.

[jolsonbear]

markbrookhar,

by the way. don't forget to read 1 cor. chapter 7 (the whole chapter--not just the parts you like).

I have my "proper gift of God" v7 and have exercised my religious right to marry v9. I'm just waiting for the government to stop recognizing your religious beliefs and denying me mine!!!


Anyway it won't hurt you to read it once; then you can just ignore it like you do the other half of the Bible you so readily use to beat ohters in the head with.

[jolsonbear]

markbrookhar,

read the entire chapter. He is being asked about divorce. And the part of his answer that you and SOOOOOO many "Christians" conveniently neglect mention is that Jesus specifically indicates that for a divorced man or woman to remarry is adultery.

[markbrookhar]

Revelation 2 (Jesus speaking) 18%u201CAnd to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, %u2018These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: 19%u201CI know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. 20Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit s@xual immorality (Greek word is Pornia, specifically f0rnication or s@xual acts outside of marriage as defined in scripture as male and female marriage) and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21And I gave her time to repent of her s@xual immorality, and she did not repent. 22Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery (Greek word- Moicheuo: s@x with other than your spouse) with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

Hmmm. Sounds to me like Jesus spoke on the subject by saying all s@xual relations outside of marriage between man and woman are sin and will result in judgment. I am not judging, just reporting.

[hungry1968]

I would be doing you a disservice by telling you that it is "ok" to be homosexual. This would mean I do not care about you. You however have twisted the meaning of love to mean "total tolerance", but love does not mean tolerance. It takes discipline, rebuttal, and telling someone what is right and wrong to truly love someone, not to pacify everything.
Posted by singinrick at 09:15 PM : Jun 25, 2007

By telling someone that you think something is "ok" or "not ok" is judgmental, and as I understand it, only the lord is allowed to judge anyone. By you having an opinion on someone else tells us that you think you are god.
It takes telling someone what is right and wrong to truly love someone? It must be a nightmare living with you in your house with you running around judging everyone in your family. What happened to acceptance and tolerance? Aren't you supposed to accept people the way they are?
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference."
It doesn't seem to me that you're going to walk up to someone that's gay and "change" them to suit your faith - so shouldn't you accept them as they are?

[markbrookhar]

I don't believe that Jesus specifically mentioned pedophilia or necrophilia or rape, or incest either, yet those are behaviors God and society condemns. In Matthew 19:4 Jesus says: 4And He answered and said to them, %u201CHave you not read that He who made them at the beginning %u2018made them male and female,%u20195and said, %u2018For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh%u2019? 6So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.%u201D Jesus said God made them male and female to be joined, not male and male, or female and female.

Jesus didn't need to speak to the Jewish hearers warning them against homos@xuality because they knew already it was contrary to Moses OT law and punishable by death. Paul did have to teach it to the Gentiles he preached to (Corinth and Rome) because they were raised in a pagan culture that practiced many forms of perversion.
But you don't want to hear any of this, so why am I bothering?

[jolsonbear]

singinrick,

Jesus never condemned homosexuals or homosexuality; never mentioned the subject himself to my knowledge. If he did please tell me where to find the scripture (not the one written by Paul in Cor. but an actual quote attributied to Jesus). And if he didn't why do you get to preach about it in His name?????

[zootallures2]

It's partiotic to kiss another boy in your school yearbook. Anyone who objects is a traitor and al-Qeada sympathizer. A liberal, defeatist who should be sent to gitmo. These boys are great heros of the highest honor. Bigger than Elvis or the Beatles. Let's build them a wall and a museum in Washington DC. Why not have every June 25, a day when we decorate a 6ft likeness of Barbara Streisand, drink wine coolers, and exchange vibrators. Even put them in all the history books as the inventors of the same gender kiss. Make some PBS, History Channel, and Discovery Channel documentaries. A new sport of who can kiss another guy the longest. And of course a competition of which two guys look the best kissing. Oh, and a famous battle and a secret weapon!

[zootallures2]

"he was concerned that the photo could upset parents."

If our own government using controlled demolition on the World Trade Center with 3,000 people inside doesn't upset them, why would this?