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June 26, 2007

School administrators regret blacking out gay kiss photo from yearbook

Newark, N.J., school officials who ordered staffers to use markers to black out a picture of a male student kissing his boyfriend from all copies of a school yearbook now says it regrets the decision.

Superintendent Marion A. Bolden issued an apology to the student, Andre Jackson, according to a statement released by the district on Monday.

''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,'' the district said.

''Superintendent Marion A. Bolden personally apologizes to Mr. Jackson and regrets any embarrassment and unwanted attention the matter has brought to him,'' her statement reads.

District officials promised to reissue an ''un-redacted version'' of the 2007 yearbook to any student of East Side High School who wants one.

Bolden, through a spokeswoman, declined a request for an interview.

Jackson planned an afternoon news conference with Garden State Equality, a gay rights group, which has condemned actions taken by the district last week.

Previously, Bolden had described the picture, which showed Andre Jackson, 18, kissing boyfriend David Escobales, as ''illicit.''

''If it was either heterosexual or gay, it should have been blacked out. It's how they posed for the picture,'' Bolden told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Saturday's editions.

In the 4½- by 5-inch photo, Jackson is seen turning his head back over his right shoulder and kissing Escobales, 19, of Allentown, Pa. It was blacked out after Russell Garris, the district's assistant superintendent who oversees the city's high schools, told Bolden he was concerned that the photo could upset parents.

The photo was among several that appeared on a special personal tribute page in the yearbook.

Jackson, who paid $150 for the page, questioned the decision to black out the photo, noting that the yearbook is filled with pictures of heterosexual couples kissing.

''There is no rule about no gay pictures [or] no guys kissing,'' Jackson has said.

Newark public schools have about 42,000 students.

The district is the state's largest and is one of three in New Jersey that are under state control. It is among 31 districts in the state's neediest areas that get special financial aid. (AP)

© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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