Lesbian Kiss in High School Play
- Artist/Author/Producer: Members of the French Club at Lane Technical High School Chicago
- Confronting Bodies: Principal David Schlichting and Assistant Principal Keith Foley
- Dates of action: March, 1994
- Location: 2051 W. Addison St. Chicago, IL
- Description of the Art Work
- A skit planned by members of the Lane Technical High School for
International Day, which may have included "a quick kiss between two
women."
- Description of incident
- When school administrators found out about the planned "inappropriate
behavior," they called several French Club members into the office,
threatening them with 10 days' suspension and no prom privileges if they
went through with the plan. Foley, an assistant principal, said the
administrators did know before they called the students in that a
same-sex kiss was an issue. The School has a policy for International
Days that "there is no kissing or any kind of suggestive or sexual things
on stage, whether they be homosexual or heterosexual," according to
Foley. But Lindsey Chan, a Lane Tech senior and French Club member, told
the Lerner "Booster" that was not the case. Principal Schlichting had
OK'd kissing between members of the opposite sex, she said, but forbade
any "homosexual acts" during the performance. A statement issued by the
administration stated, "This event, by its nature, does not lend itself
to the depiction of a cultural group in any manner which could be
interpreted as a negative stereotype. The school retains the right to
modify a skit which may be even remotedly construed as unkind or in poor
taste by any ethnic group." Foley would not say if a kiss between two
women had been deemed a "negative stereotype," and added that the
censoring of the kiss "has nothing to do with any administrator's
feelings about homosexuality." The Lane Tech administration does not want
International Days celebration to "become a situation where people are
making statements," Foley said. "We've just never allowed it," he said.
"I'm not sure why it's becoming an issue this year."
- Results of incident
- Rumors of the pending lesbian kiss -which was ultimately scrapped from
last Friday's skit- had the student body abuzz with debate; the
administration's actions had senior Joe Zefran, a self-described
"straight-but-not-narrow" kind of guy, up in arms. Zefran, along with
about 40 other sutdents, held a peaceful protest outside of Lane Tech on
March 18 to "let the media know that the top two people running Lane are
homophobic. I view this as being just as bad as racist, anti-semitic
attitudes."
Source: Windy City Times, Vol. 9, No. 29, March 31, 1994
