Students' kiss not just a kiss

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | November 17, 2003 | Ylan Mui

[scripter]

You've seen Britney and Madonna. Now a US high school has seen two 17-year-olds, Katherine Pecore and Stephanie Haaser, lock lips on top of a lunch table.

The result? Two-day suspensions, a school protest and 15 minutes of fame.

"It wasn't an affection thing. It was really just a statement," Katherine said.

The girls say the kiss was staged to protest against homophobia. It happened in the middle of lunch at River Hill High School in Maryland.

Stephanie's English teacher had asked his students to perform a "nonconformist act" as part of a course on transcendentalist authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Most students opted for little indiscretions - calling teachers by their first names, for example.

But Stephanie had a more dramatic idea. The pair climbed on top of a lunch table and shouted, "End homophobia now!" Then the girls, both heterosexual, made out for an estimated 10 to 15 seconds.

"It was intense," Katherine said. There was stunned silence in the crowded cafeteria. But soon staff and students could talk about little else. The two girls were suspended from school for two days for being disruptive, not for the kiss, said the principal, Scott Pfeifer. There is no policy against kissing in the cafeteria.

But the kiss has eclipsed their message. Only two students showed up at a protest against homophobia that the suspensions prompted.

But a much larger audience tuned in Thursday night when the girls' story made it to CNN. On Friday morning, Stephanie and her mother were on Good Morning America defending the kiss to host Charles Gibson.

At the school, Katherine said, teachers often allow students to use phrases such as: "Oh, that's gay" or trash-talk classmates they believe to be homosexual.

Mr Pfeifer said there was some insensitivity, but he was working with a committee to investigate homophobia.

As for the media, "They don't care about our message," Katherine said. "They care because the whole lesbian kiss thing, because that sells."

[joesnuffy]

There is no policy against kissing in the cafeteria.

Public School?.....Wouldnt want this idiot watching over my kids for 8 hrs a day...

[IGOTMINE]

I heard Stephanie call in to WMAL.

She's well down the path of liberal lunacy. "My politics are very liberal..."

[Hemingway's Ghost]

What will this teacher do if an author like Hemingway or Fitzgerald comes up?

Options:

- Get liquored up on mojitos
- Get liquored up on wine
- Get liquored up on whiskey
- Get liquored up on vodka
- Get liquored up on gin
- Pass out (Fitzgerald)
- Insult everyone around you, get into a bar fight (Hemingway)
- Get liquored up and go to a bull fight
- Get liquored up and go fishing
- Get liquored up and go hunting
- Have sex with your friends' wives (Hemingway)
- Go visit your wife in the mental hospital (Fitzgerald)
- Have a nervous breakdown

It's all good.

[goodnesswins]

" Stephanie's English teacher had asked his students to perform a "nonconformist act"

How about, put an apostrophe in the wrong place....sheesh....English teachers not teaching ENGLISH is one of the PROBLEMS with education!

[the_devils_advocate_666]

As for the media, "They don't care about our message," Katherine said. "They care because the whole lesbian kiss thing, because that sells."

I'd have to agree...

[TheBigB]

"My politics are very liberal..."

I'm SHOCKED! SHOCKED, I say!

[stainlessbanner]

he was working with a committee to investigate homophobia.

Bwahhahhaahaa

[Dan from Michigan]

It was a publicity stunt for fame meant to get a reaction. That's all it was. Anytime two chicks kiss, guys watch.

[HEY4QDEMS]

I hope the NFL doesn't see this.

[Redcloak]

Anyone have a guess as to how long it will be until these two show up in Chatsworth?

[conservativefromGa]

goodbye