Same Sex Kiss Gets HS Girls Suspended, But Praise from Mothers

ABC News ^ | November 16, 2003 | Various

[nwrep]

Stephanie Haaser, left, and her mother Mary Haaser, right, defend an unconventional high school protest which led to a suspension. ABCNEWS.com

Improper Protest? Same-Sex Smooch Gets High School Girls Suspended ABCNEWS.com C L A R K S V I L L E, Md., Nov. 14— Two high school girls were suspended for sharing a 12-second-long protest kiss, which they say was part of their English class assignment.

Stephanie Haaser, a junior at River Hill High School, says she jumped on a table during lunch and yelled "end homophobia now" before engaging in the kiss with a female friend.

Haaser said her very public display of protest in the form of a kiss was part of an English class assignment that required students to perform a "non-conformist" act.

Shunned from Honor Society?

The act got Haaser and her friend suspended, and now Haaser also faces disqualification from the National Honor Society, too.

Meanwhile, Haaser said she would choose to pull off the same "non-conformist" act if she had it to do over again.

"I had not known this would be the consequence, but I would have done it anyway," Haaser said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "It has sparked this reaction within the school and student body. The demonstration was not for the administration. It was for the student body," she said.

Haaser said the kiss was about drawing attention to gay and lesbian students who are treated poorly by their peers at the school. She and her partner in the protest are heterosexual, Haaser said.

Mom: ‘Super Idea’

Her mother, Mary Haaser, says she knew about her daughter's plan and believes Stephanie is being punished for standing up for something she believes in.

"To me, it sounded like a super idea," Mary Haaser said. "She didn't go into all the specifics about how long the kiss would be or where it would be. But I actually encouraged her to do it in a place where the other students would see her," she said.

River Hill administrators suspended Haaser and her protest partner from school for two days after the Nov. 5 stunt. School officials said the girls were suspended because they disrupted the "orderly operation" of the school.

Haaser's English teacher has assigned the same project in past years, but this is the first time it has caused any issues, according to school officials.

The teacher's instructions for the assignment include the exlusion of illegal or inappropriate acts while completing the work.

Several days after Haaser's return, two other high school juniors protested her suspension. They held signs that read "Where is the love? End homophobia now," near campus after school. The students told school officials that they, too, believe that gay students, and those who support them, often are picked on.

School officials have said they have not been made aware of any specific incidents of harrassment, but they plan to look into the protesters' complaints.

[billorites]

I'd rather kiss the one on the left.

[Joe 6-pack]

Apparently, they're both on the Left...

[stands2reason]

Puke.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"Haaser said her very public display of protest in the form of a kiss was part of an English class assignment that required students to perform a "non-conformist" act."

The individual that should be punished here is the one that gave out the "English" assignment.

[Chad Fairbanks]

I don't see what the complaint is here. I know when I was in high school, any displays of affection between a male and female would be a disciplinable offense... Looks like the queers now have "equal rights" and it ticks them off, now...

[Sender]

"To me, it sounded like a super idea," Mary Haaser said.

Ohhhh kayyyy, Mom of the year.

[cmsgop]

I wonder who Mary Haaser donated too in past elections.....

[Unam Sanctam]

Pretty soon a heterosexual kiss will be a non-conformist act.

[Sender]

That's exactly right. Any public kissing, let alone jumping on a table and making out, will get HS kids suspended. Even if a boy grabs a girl and does it to her against her will, they BOTH get suspended. It is very much zero-tolerance for any sort of affection.

[Mr. Mojo]

I know when I was in high school, any displays of affection between a male and female would be a disciplinable offense.

If that were the case in my high school, a good chunk of the students would've been disciplined on a regular basis.

[Will_Zurmacht]

I don't even know where to start....

That cabin in the woods without tv or newspapers sounds appealing when I read this stuff. If this is modern culture, ....sigh

[Prime Choice]

Maybe things have seriously changed since I was in school, but way back when, all public displays of affection were discouraged and could be reason for suspension.

But now the same rules that have applied to heterosexual conduct should now have exemptions for homosexual conduct? I don't think so.

And this is not a matter of "homophobia" or other trendy Leftist psychobabble. There are simply times in which one must express outrage over outrageous conduct.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Well, apparently we went to different high schools, with differing ideas about that sort of thing ;0)

[eno_]

Mountain out of a molehill. First, what's wrong with assigning a nonconformist act? Second, who was harmed or insulted? Third, they'll probably be LUGs at college anyway. Yawn.

[kezekiel]

Haaser said her very public display of protest in the form of a kiss was part of an English class assignment that required students to perform a "non-conformist" act.

To what end? There's an implied inditement of the status quo in this kind of sentiment arises, with no reflection on whether it may actually be called for. Sometime's it ain't broke.

[Scenic Sounds]

The line must be drawn on these PDA's!

I haven't yet arrived at any final conclusion on exactly where that line should be drawn, but 12 seconds is definitely on the wrong side of that line.

Suspension is but a slap on the wrist! (And, speaking of slaps on the wrist, we could use some clarification on the touching rules, too.)

[Chad Fairbanks]

No mountain out of a molehill by me - it's this girl's mom who is making one. I just want to make sure that school policies are upheld regardless of the sexual orientation of the offenders...

[eno_]

Yeah, making out at high school expellable? Ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Just don't point your finger like a gun.

[bvw]

Where's the Dad?