June 22, 2007

Newark School Supe Orders Gay-Kiss Blackout. Literally.

Marcus Porcius Cato, known as the Censor

No, this is not a picture of
Marion Bolden. But we think
it would be quite fitting on
Mr. Bolden’s office wall.

Gay pair’s photo blacked out of yearbook

A photograph of an East Side High School student kissing his boyfriend was blacked out of every copy of the school’s yearbook by Newark school officials who decided it was inappropriate.

Andre Jackson said he never thought he would offend anyone when he bought a page in the yearbook and filled it with several photographs, including one of him kissing his boyfriend.

But Newark Superintendent of Schools Marion Bolden called the photograph “illicit” and ordered it blacked out of the $85 yearbook before it was distributed to students at a banquet for graduating seniors Thursday.

“It looked provocative,” she said. “If it was either heterosexual or gay, it should have been blacked out. It’s how they posed for the picture.”

Russell Garris, the assistant superintendent who oversees the city’s high schools, brought the photograph to Bolden’s attention Thursday afternoon. He was concerned the picture would be controversial and upsetting to parents, Bolden said.

There are several photos of heterosexual couples kissing in the yearbook, but the superintendent said she didn’t review the entire yearbook and was presented only with Jackson’s page.

Funny, but we don’t believe this line: “If it was either heterosexual or gay, it should have been blacked out.” Rrrrrrrright.