Message from:
The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020
Email to: SARATOGANY@aol.com
The Real or Perceived Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Student Protection Project

FYI
BOULDER HIGH SCHOOL
1604 Arapahoe Ave
Boulder, Colorado 80302
Office: (303) 442-2430
Fax: (303) 447-5317
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From the Daily Camera, Boulder, CO
http://www.bouldernews.com/news/local/24akiss.html

Students 'kiss-in' to protest yearbook advisor's decision

By Christopher Anderson
Camera Staff Writer

May 24, 2001

Boys kissed boys and girls kissed girls - they kissed often and long.

That was the scene at Boulder High School on Wednesday when students gathered in a "kiss-in" to protest the school yearbook adviser's decision not publish a photo of two girls kissing.

"The whole point of this demonstration is to show that students won't tolerate narrow-mindedness," said Caitlin Rucker, 17, a Fairview student, who joined Boulder High's cause.

"It may not be my school, but it is the point they are trying to make," she said. "And I support that point."

About 150 students gathered on a bike path and a bridge on the south edge of campus to watch about two dozen participants in the kiss-in. The protest coincided with the school's annual end-of-the-year "Frankfest."

The controversy stems from a decision made by faculty adviser Ruth Palmer not to publish a photo of the two girls kissing unless the photographer could provide confirmation from the girls' parents that the photo was OK to run in the student yearbook. The yearbook does include several photos of heterosexual couples kissing.

Palmer, who had not supervised the publication of a yearbook before, said she was concerned that the parents might not know of the girls' sexual orientation and might not want the yearbook to be the venue for finding out. Principal Chris King said he supports her decision.

Palmer said she now regrets running photos of anyone kissing, because the decision did create a double standard. The mother of one of the girls said the decision not to run the photo was "very hypocritical."

"I think it is no big deal. It's a yearbook, and kids are old enough to decide whether their pictures should be or should not be" published, said Tashi Bhotia, mother of India Bhotia, 18. "But I do also understand that there are some parents who would freak out about something like that. Not everybody is going to be open-minded."

The two students, who currently do not attend Boulder High but go to alternative schools, said they felt that the decision did not protect them but singled them out.

"I didn't like it because the other people did not have to get parent confirmation and I did," said India Bhotia. "That kind of discriminated me."

The other girl - who asked to be identified only by her first name, Becky - said she didn't discuss the photo with her parents because "I felt like I shouldn't have to." She said her parents were "proud" of her for participating in Wednesday's protest.

Both girls said their parents have known for a long time about their sexual orientation.

Photographer Zee Janmohamed said she submitted the photo of the two girls kissing to "put a little twist into the yearbook."

She said she felt the criterion was a "double standard" because the heterosexual couples did not need parent permission to have their photos run.

Janmohamed said she tried to reach the parents of the two girls but ran out of time before deadline.

David Stevenson, the student editor in chief of the yearbook, said he wanted to run the photo and could not understand the reasoning against it at first. But he said he "partially agreed" with administrators because he thought he could have been sued if the parents had been angry about the photo.

"We wanted to make sure the family wasn't going to be mad," he said.

Next year's editor in chief, Stephen van deer Merit, said he already has plans to include a photo of same-sex couples kissing in next year's yearbook as well as ensuring that all groups, including Hispanics, are equally represented.

Contact Christopher Anderson at (303) 473-1355 or andersonc@thedailycamera.com.

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From the Denver Post
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E37605,00.html

Protesters lock lips at kiss-in

By Monte Whaley
Denver Post Staff Writer

Thursday, May 24, 2001 - BOULDER - Dozens of lips locked in protest Wednesday over a decision to keep a photo of a same-sex kiss out of the Boulder High School yearbook.

Students kissed in packs, on the run and during long, passionate embraces. Onlookers included students, the media, police and school officials.

As a way to make a point, it probably beat a hunger strike, said organizers of the same-sex "kiss-in."

"I think overall it went smoothly," said Chris Maynard. "It could become an annual convention."

About 150 students participated in or watched the kiss-in on the Boulder Creek bike path behind Boulder High. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and straight students were encouraged to kiss one another for about an hour as part of the school's annual Frankfest spring celebration.

Student activists called the event a healthy expression of affection among youth with different sexual orientations.

But it was originally organized as a reaction against keeping a photo showing two bisexual girls kissing out of the yearbook, the Odaroloc.

The yearbook adviser, Ruth Palmer, said she wouldn't run the photo unless the staff of the yearbook got permission from the parents of the two girls.

But student Rachel Stanley said the yearbook was guilty of a double standard because photos of male-female kisses were allowed to run without parental approval.

"A lot more needs to be done to open people's eyes about the problems facing kids" with different sexual backgrounds, Stanley said as students behind her hugged and kissed. "It has to start somewhere and maybe this is it."

Kye Colby, photo editor of the Odaroloc, said staff members wanted the photo to run. But deadline loomed and they couldn't get the paperwork together in time for the girls' parents to sign.

"We were under a serious time crunch," Colby said. "Hopefully, they'll try it again next year."

India Bhotia, 18 - one of the girls in the controversial picture - ducked in and out of small groups of students at the kiss-in, delivering and receiving kisses. Then she found her partner in the photo.

The second girl, 16, asked that her full name not be used and identified herself only as Becky.

Both girls said that they are bisexual and that their parents know their sexual orientation. Bhotia, however, doesn't blame the yearbook.

"I was kind of sad at first, but they had their reasons and I understand that," Bhotia said. "But still, it's such a double standard."

She enjoyed the sight of friends and classmates laughing and enjoying each other's lips. "Look," Bhotia yelled to Becky. "We've started a revolution."

The decision not to run the photo was probably correct because it protected the yearbook legally, said Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va. The center advises student-run newspapers and other publications about their First Amendment rights.

"For better or for worse, describing someone as gay, lesbian or bisexual has a different impact than describing someone as heterosexual," Goodman said. "If you describe someone as gay in a public context, and then later the subject said that wasn't true, they could have a libel claim against the publication."

School officials wanted to keep the news media a few feet away from the kissing students Wednesday, and there were a few angry confrontations with security officers. But eventually, reporters and photographers were allowed to mix in with the students.

Student Ty Whitney, 17, and his friend Dan Straigis, 21, were among the few males who kissed each other. Straigis said culture and society keep most males from smooching.

"It's harder for guys to admit their feelings," Straigis said. "Our society thinks that if two girls kiss, it's sexual. But if two guys kiss, it is wrong."
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From the Rocky Mountain News
http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_537051,00.html

Couples lock lips after editor nixes pix of chix

Same-sex smooch was kiss of death for photo in Boulder yearbook

By Owen S. Good, News Staff Writer

BOULDER -- Rock music filled the air as two pairs of teen-age lips closed in for a kiss with the combined passion of From Here to Eternity and a Big Red chewing gum advertisement.

The girls paused, smiled, and resumed making out.

A same-sex "kiss-in" at Boulder High School brought a lip-locked end to class Wednesday as about two dozen students protested the yearbook's deletion of a picture of two girls kissing. Another 100 or so watched.

Participants and supporters noted that pictures of heterosexual couples kissing were published without incident. Observer Rebecca Sherman, 14, said sexual experimentation of any kind is none of the school's business.

Yearbook editor-in-chief, David Stevenson, 18, acknowledged that a double-standard was applied to the photograph "just because we were afraid of what might happen." It was difficult to make a decision because there was no precedent, Stevenson said.

He said he originally had no problem with the picture until school administrators advised him that if either girl's parents were unaware of her sexuality, a privacy lawsuit naming him was a possibility.

Stephan van der Mersch, next year's editor-in-chief, vowed to clear all administrative hurdles and print a picture of a gay couple kissing.

"Next year's book will be the most integrated in history," he said. "It will be a book that shows all the facets of Boulder High."

Both girls in the picture were present for the kiss-in on the southern edge of campus bordering the Boulder Creek bike path. The activist group Student Worker, in conjunction with the high school's Gay Student Alliance, called for the kiss-in at the conclusion of an outdoor festival.

One of the girls, 18-year-old India Bhotia, said she was discriminated against because she was required to get parental consent to print the photo, but straight couples were not. She and the other girl, Becky, a 16-year-old who declined to give her last name, were so put off by the conditions that they refused to comply.

"I felt I shouldn't have to," said Bhotia, who left Boulder High for another school this spring. "It's none of (the school's) business."

Both girls said their parents are aware of their sexual orientation.

Earlier in the day, Principal Chris King defended yearbook adviser Ruth Palmer's decision to require consent for the photo.

"I think the lesson learned is that kissing in the yearbook isn't really a good idea, regardless of who's kissing," he said. "If we do anything in the future, it'll be to steer away from these topics."

The photographer, Zee Janmohamed, said the yearbook editor instructed her to take a picture of two people kissing.

"He said 'people' so I thought, 'Cool.' I saw my friends India and Becky, and I know they're bisexual, so I thought, 'Hey, I'll take a picture of two girls kissing and put a twist in the yearbook.' "

It didn't make the yearbook, but helped put a twist into the end of the school year.

Rebecca Wilson, 16, and Kathryn Halasi, 18, -- neither of whom attend Boulder High -- easily shared the most showstopping embrace. The two said they are bisexual and have other girlfriends and boyfriends.

"This kiss-in is a small step to complete utopia, and acceptance of girl-girl and boy-boy relationships," Halasi said.

Contact Owen S. Good at (303) 442-8729 or goodo@RockyMountainNews.com.

May 24, 2001
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"The Real or Perceived Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgendered Student Protection Project"
("Being safe at school should not be a radical concept".. Jamie Nabozny)

A project of:
Coalition for Safer Schools of New York State

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