Couples lock lips after editor nixes pix of chix
Same-sex smooch was kiss of death for photo in Boulder yearbook
Owen S. Good, News Staff Writer
Published May 24, 2001 at midnight
'Kiss-in' protest
- Video: Former Boulder High student Kathryn Halasi talks about the yearbook photo controversy
- Video: Boulder yearbook photographer Zee Janmohamed talks about the photo controversy
- Video: An unidentified Boulder High student says the "kiss-in" was for attention
- Video: September School student Michele Arrieta
- Video: Former Boulder High students Kathryn Halasi and Rebecca Wilson
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.
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