N.J. school
superintendent apologizes to gay student

The Newark, N.J., city schools superintendent apologized to a gay student Tuesday for having staffers black out a picture of the student kissing his boyfriend in the high school yearbook, calling the incident ''a homophobic moment.''

Superintendent Marion A. Bolden said she spoke with senior Andre Jackson, 18, a day after she issued him a written apology that said she regretted the decision to censor his personal page in the East Side High School yearbook.

''We have to own up to the fact that it was a homophobic moment,'' she said. ''That's what everybody's afraid to say. There are sensitivity issues we need to talk about as a result of this.''

Jackson on Monday had refused to accept Bolden's written apology, saying he wanted her to apologize publicly. Bolden said she arrived at the school Tuesday to find him reluctant to speak with her, but that the two spoke after she made a public apology to the assembled students.

''He said he felt a lot better,'' Bolden said. ''He said he's had more issues around his coming-out from outside school than in school, so it was particularly hard for him.''

During her public remarks, she said the picture of Jackson kissing his boyfriend was not appropriate for the yearbook and that, if it was to be removed, two pictures of heterosexual couples kissing should have been removed as well.

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

The district said it would reissue an uncensored version of the 2007 yearbook to any student who wants one.

Garden State Equality, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, condemned the censorship, saying it violated the state's Law Against Discrimination. Attempts to reach Jackson through Garden State Equality as well as friends were unsuccessful Tuesday night. (David Porter, AP)