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Apology Issued In Blackout Of Gay Kiss In Yearbook

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Jun 25, 2007 5:46 pm US/Eastern

Apology Issued In Blackout Of Gay Kiss In Yearbook

by Jay Dow
NEWARK, N.J. (CBS) ― Newark city school officials have issued an apology to a homosexual student whose picture was blacked out of his high school yearbook because the photograph showed him kissing his boyfriend.

East Side High School senior Andre Jackson was furious when he learned Newark Superintendent Marion A. Bolden ordered to have the photo literally wiped out of yearbook copies with a black permanent marker just days before graduation.

"I feel hurt. I felt like they were doing something to erase me," Jackson told CBS 2 HD.

Like other seniors, Jackson paid $150 to buy his own page in the yearbook. And while many heterosexual students were allowed to have pictures of them kissing members of the opposite sex, Jackson, who is openly gay, says he was singled out because the photo showed him kissing his 19-year-old boyfriend.

"You'd rather see other children -- heterosexual children kissing -- but then again you see two guys kissing and it's a problem?" Jackson said.

Last thursday during the senior banquet where students expected to receive their yearbooks, students instead saw several faculty members feverishly blacking out Jackson's photo in every single senior yearbook. Other students were just as disturbed by the decision.

"I didn't ask anyone to color anything out of my yearbook," said senior Christine McNeil.

On Monday, Bolden reversed her position, saying in a written statement: "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."

Jackson isn't buying that, however. He says there's no way the school could have mistaken him for an outsider. "I want her to contact me, and I want a public apology," he said.

Many are now wondering whether it's a coincidence that Bolden's decision was suddenly changed the day after the story made local headlines. Only Bolden can answer that question, but she has refused to comment beyond her press release.

While Jackson waits for his sit down, there is a small consolation: the district now says it will re-issue yearbooks to any student upon request free of charge.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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