Gay Kiss Prompts Football Players to Walk Out of Connecticut High School Musical
A group of students, mostly male athletes, walked out of a Hartford High School production of Zanna Don't after a gay kiss made them uncomfortable, CBS Connecticut reports:
Zanna Don’t!” depicts life at the fictitious Heartsville High, where students with academically-charged interests sit atop the popularity echelon while football players are the outcasts, and heterosexuals must conceal their sexual preference to avoid public scrutiny.
During the show, two men in the cast share a brief kiss — a lip lock that became a great point of contention.
“There was a public walkout by a bunch of students (when the kiss happened) … mostly male,” [Adam Johnson, principal of the Government and Law Academy] said. “It was visually evident (due to the jerseys the team was wearing) that a lot of football players got up and walked out. It was almost a symbolic kind of thing.”
The school reportedly told parents in advance of the gay content in the play, which was planned to coincide with GLAAD's Spirit Day, taking place tomorrow. The announcement prompted a visit from "a Bible-wielding parent" and lots of phone calls.
Organizers hoped to draw attention to tolerance, and I guess they have.
The production was produced by a joint effort between a task force created by Leadership Greater Hartford’s Quest program and True Colors. It was one of 16 projects available for the taking by task forces involved in Quest, participant Louise Provenzano explained.
“Our specific task force voted for this project because we believe in it, especially in light of national and local stories about LGBTQ issues and bullying.”
"Gay Kiss prompts insecure wimps to exit room in order to convince everyone around them that they're not gay"
you failed, cowards.
Posted by: Little Kiwi | Oct 19, 2011 12:34:58 PM
i bet these football players also adamantly are opposed to girl-on-girl lesbian porn. right?
i mean, they're teenage boys. who are anti-gay.
they MUST also be against lesbian scenes in porn.
right?
http://youtu.be/kg80CohFIw0
Posted by: Little Kiwi | Oct 19, 2011 12:37:44 PM
FENROX/FOX
But you weren't funny nor cute or witty?!
RIN
Come on, you're from the right aren't you? So you inherently don't believe in teaching stuff like it's okay to be gay or black etc. It goes against your thinking and is seen as liberal fluff, so I am surprised you are suggesting this?
You remember being young right? Did you ever listen in class? I didn't. I was always fooling about or not turning up. I just wasn't that mature and would've made fun of something like that if it'd happened in my school, I just would've. Immature, I know but I'm being honest that I wasn't one of those kids he didn't mess around.
So for someone like me, seeing a play like this would've definitely kept me thinking long into when I go home and stayed in my psyche.
You telling me as a teacher that all gays should be treated well and me as a school kid will make some joke of it because I dont listen to teachers, what do they know? Soo not cool.
But this being a play, means that this is bigger then my teacher trying to make us feel good. It tells me that there is a written play, out there, that shows gay are equal. It's not preaching at me. Not given me a lecture. In fact it's so unimportant that 'wooaah, did you just see that boy kiss the boy?!'
And then it's gone. Back to the rest of the play.
MUCH more effective.
Posted by: Rowan | Oct 19, 2011 12:44:51 PM
@ Adrian - (Slap on the wrist) - No TROLL feeding, although you made me actually LOL!
I'm not going to defend the football players actions, but I do have a little bit of empathy. Football is like the top GANG at a school, so even if 80% of the players were enjoying the play, all it takes is for the Alpha Male to leave, and they all have to follow. It's survival at the end of the day, and some of the players fall in line instead of having to go through the merciless bullying. It's hiding in plain sight, and it's not fun for a lot of them.
Again, not defending them, but also don't want to label them ALL as homophobes.
Posted by: Hollywood, CA | Oct 19, 2011 12:47:42 PM
Do you guys seriously not see anything funny in the spectacle of this situation? It's like people getting worked up on the plot points of glee. It's ridiculous to be so on edge that you have to immediately distill any story into it's potential to hurt gay kids. Do you enjoy this person you have become?
Posted by: Fenrox | Oct 19, 2011 12:59:24 PM
When I first saw the "Birdcage" at the theater, not 10 minutes into the movie several moach types and their girlfriends got up and left the theatre. Their loss!
Posted by: Steve Pardue | Oct 19, 2011 1:04:09 PM
I think some commentators are missing the point here. This story is worthy of discussion and analysis because high schools are an increasingly dangerous place for gay kids. That's why we adults should be interested and involved in these silly high school matters.
Me? I hate kids, especially teenagers. But, I find this topic to be irresistible because I lived through similar crap in high school and am convinced that it's gotta stop.
Posted by: MIleHighJoe | Oct 19, 2011 1:15:00 PM
It is always interesting to realize that these so called "male" athletes are really mimosa-like "sissies" without guts. To walk away just because of a kiss, really! Bully victims have to stand much more!
Posted by: Roman Bolliger | Oct 19, 2011 2:20:05 PM
Why can't they stand the sight of a gay kiss, are they afraid they might like it? Perhaps they have thought about it and don't even know how to deal with it besides the eww approach. (let theories of lockeroom schenanigans begin)
Posted by: Redebbm | Oct 19, 2011 5:29:35 PM
Football jocks grab their butts on the field in public but only kiss in the privacy of the post game shower.
Posted by: jaragon | Oct 19, 2011 5:59:04 PM
I object to any high school play being about a high school, even one in some parallel universe. It has some kind of recursive banality that is troubling. But I digress...
Posted by: St. Theresa of Avila | Oct 19, 2011 8:43:34 PM
please pass the All Fruit...
Posted by: kodiak | Oct 20, 2011 2:15:46 AM
They had probably planned this ahead of time knowing that it was coming. I'm sure some of them enjoyed it, but had to follow the crowd...
Posted by: billmiller | Oct 20, 2011 7:13:39 AM
As an out gay man, I have to see all kinds of heterosexual sex all the time: tv, movies, print magazines, online garbage. Look at the tits and ass on late night tv. If I turned all that off, I would have to turn off 98% of television. Don't these jackasses get that? Guess not.
Posted by: Mykelb | Oct 20, 2011 11:59:07 AM
No, they don't get it. They're jocks, meaning they are catered to their entire lives (for the most part), which makes most of them totally socially unaware of anything outside of their bubbles.
I agree, though, that some/many of them felt obligated to leave. Unfortunately that's the social hierarchy system in high schools rearing it's ugly head.
Posted by: Francis | Oct 20, 2011 12:24:08 PM
Nooooooooooooooo ! Not a gay kiss !
Pathetic.
Posted by: JackFknTwist | Oct 20, 2011 5:29:08 PM
@Rowan,
****
Come on, you're from the right aren't you? So you inherently don't believe in teaching stuff like it's okay to be gay or black etc. It goes against your thinking and is seen as liberal fluff, so I am surprised you are suggesting this?
****
WHAT? How am I from the far right? I went door to door to get people to not discriminate against gay marriage in my state. I give money to programs that support gay youth. When I taught in a CHRISTIAN school I even begged and begged until they let us have a debate about gays and the Bible.
What I was saying is that teenagers are incredibly immature and that having a play where the first picture I see of a gay guy makes him look like Bobby Trendy doesn't make me think that the immature hooligans who live in classrooms will "get" the point that gays and lesbians are no different than anyone else.
However...you are probably right that for the gay kids this gives them something that says: I'm okay.
I just worry about what happens after in the halls...after school...in the gym.
I'm a worry wart. Mostly, because I DO remember my high school. I remember my gay friends getting tripped. I remember one kid falling so flat that he busted his nose. I think teens are immature due to hormones, and no...I don't always trust their judgment to inherently do or know the right thing to do or say.
But thanks for the perspective. Something I will definitely think about, Rowan. Instead of worrying about backlash to gay kids, I will consider what it means to them to see the play.
Again, thanks.
Posted by: Rin | Oct 20, 2011 6:06:19 PM
OK, so based on the new reports, around "a couple dozen" walked out. So maybe 20 students? And they were primarily football players. The play is still functioning at the school but it's now optional for students to watch or choose not to.
I don't think the school should have made it optional. That defeats the purpose of the play. The purpose is to open the eyes of these jocks and make them realize the world doesn't revolve around their black and white ways of thinking.
Posted by: Francis | Oct 25, 2011 11:46:16 AM
Hmm. Based on the picture of the play they chose to show, I wouldn't even have waited for the kiss to walk out. It looks like a really, really, really queer episode of Glee. *barf*
Posted by: OMNOMNOM | Oct 31, 2011 1:43:51 PM