Gay Kiss In 'Zanna Don't!' High School Musical Triggers Walkout By Students, Football Players At Hartford Public High School

A gay kiss in the musical "Zanna Don't" staged at a Connecticut high school triggered a walkout last week.

The musical was playing last Friday night at Hartford Public High School when the incident took place reports CBS Connecticut. Students from the high school's law, government, and nursing academies were in attendance.

The plot of “Zanna Don’t!” involves a high school where homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuals are the outcasts.

After two male actors shared a brief kiss on the lips on stage, a group of students, most of them male and many of them football players, got up and left the auditorium.

“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,” Adam Johnson, principal of the Government and Law Academy at the high school, told CBS Connecticut.

He also noted that many students opted out of attending the play because of the subject matter.

“There are always circumstances [in organizing these programs] under which the values of the student or their family come into play," Johnson said, adding, “It’s a balancing act of individual values and the expectations of the school … [and] it was interesting, actually, seeing the apprehension."

Johnson had received calls from concerned parents in the weeks leading up to the musical's opening but he stood firm and stated that he believed it was important to show gay "intimacy" in the same way that society shows straight intimacy.

“When one teacher asked if I wanted to remove [the kiss], I said absolutely not,” Johnson said.

"Even though it's kind of chaotic, kind of wild and crazy, I see it as very successful," David Chambers, principal of the nursing academy, told Courant.com. "Our kids never deal with this, they keep it inside, and that's that nervous energy. That's why they walked out."

Johnson added, “I think that we’re at a time in history where there is tremendous focus on bullying and the way students are treating each other, and how they are treated, in school... We have to teach students how to respect and honor each other. [The students] need to learn about the diversity of the world and respecting the rights of all people. [I’m] really glad that we did this program.”

A task force created by Leadership Greater Hartford's Quest program and True Colors oversaw the production which, according to participant Louise Provenzano, aimed to bring "the message of inclusiveness and … compassion to the community" in light of "national and local stories about LGBTQ issues and bullying."

“Through humor … and music, we’re able to address uncomfortable topics and very serious issues for many," she said.

See 10 other gay kisses that had people talking:

Comments

[JuicyJincey]

11:24 AM on 10/24/2011

Ugh. People, get over homosexuality. It's a natural part of life.

[Jerry Callaio]

11:19 PM on 10/23/2011

It's ashame these players with limited mentalities will miss out on some great movies such as: THE CRYING GAME, MADAME BUTTERFLY and KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN as well as THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and many others.

[imlaughlin]

12:42 PM on 10/26/2011

This was a play for students in a high school, Jerry, not a movie theater of choice. Suggest the "bullying" done here was by academics who wanted to impose their social agenda on high school students.

[Jerry Callaio]

02:58 PM on 10/26/2011

Yes....a play the students could OPT OUT of....I never had such options when I was in high school. Now imagine all the work and long hours of practice/rehearsal that the students performing the play put into the production....walking out is immature and rude....and disrupts the play.

Obviously it was a planned walkout by members of the Football Team.....IF they knew they would be offended; they DID NOT have to attend.....they frankly are the people with the agenda...

The play was about bullying and intended to educate the audience on the cosequences that their words/actions have on others....IF anything these players were in essence trying to bully the drama club members into silence....and impose their agenda of intolerance on the drama students....and student body through intimidation.

Conversely let's say I went to watch the football team play a home game....they fall behind their opponent and are not playing well. Now even though I chose to attend the game....myself and the student body walks out in protest of our team's subpar playing abilities.

Would you consider that in "good taste"......Would you not consider that disrespectful to the football team that also practiced hard and long hours to prepare for the game?

I thought so!

[Kim Moore2011]

05:07 PM on 10/22/2011

Good for those students who walked out and took a stand. If you don't accept something, then you should stand up for what you believe in and walk out. More power to them!

[Jerry Callaio]

11:23 PM on 10/23/2011

Rather immature reasoning considering all the practice and work their fellow students put into presenting the play.....whether you agree or disagree(with the content) it's respectful to watch the play in it's entirety.

How about the next time the High School's football team falls behind.......the entire student body and fans leave the stands because of the team's poor and uninspired performance on the field......just some food for thought!

Good for the Goose....Good for the Gander.

[Eric Watkins]

08:41 PM on 10/25/2011

i'm sure you would voice the same opinion if the play was about a school that bans homosexuality because it is evil. yeah right.
All of you pro homo types are all for freedom of expression until it goes against your personal viewpoint.

[jbrantow]

11:46 AM on 10/24/2011

Why did they go (as a group date) to the play in the first place.....considering they knew prior to attending what the play was about? What's your next step kimmoore, defending racist actions on the kk k website?

[imlaughlin]

12:45 PM on 10/26/2011

Suggest the "kiss" between male students could have been omitted with no impact on the overall theme of the play. However, activists always prefer to get "in your face" than seek understanding.

[DovS]

03:44 PM on 10/22/2011

On the bright side, as high school demonstrations against gay people goes, this was very peaceful. It's a much more acceptable form of protest than the usual violent beatings.

[DovS]

03:32 PM on 10/22/2011

I think we can assume that the football players were probably only attending for the specific purpose of walking out after the kiss. Football players are not usually big on attending musical theatre in the first place.

[imlaughlin]

12:46 PM on 10/26/2011

Showing a little bias yourself, DovS?

[Wayde L Taylor]

04:23 AM on 10/22/2011

For a lot of the commenters who are talking about homosexuality being forced I gotta agree. I to am tired of having agendas forced on me, but I am tired of the heterosexual agenda being pushed on me. I am totally fine with you being a "hetero" but come on I don't want to see you breeders kissing in public, holding hands, and acting cute like everyday homosexuals do. Its like you can't turn on the TV anymore without seeing some masculine "hetero" stomping across the screen. What if my children see this. Will they want to all the sudden start breeding and growing icky fetuses inside them. I mean come on for real I'm not a heterophobe or anything...really I have heterosexual friends... I just don't want your weird breeder stuff shoved down my children's throats, thats what I send them to catholic school for!

[novaguy1968]

07:25 PM on 10/22/2011

Someone need to get laid, big time.

[GayMovieFan]

01:03 PM on 10/24/2011

Took the words right out of my mouth. Growing up gay in a straight world is not easy.

I thought we might see a lot of change as a result of the efforts of the last (my) generation to free us from sexual bondage. But I really have hope for the current generation. Most of the young people I encounter these days have no problem with gay people, usually because their exposure to gay friends and gay people in the media have made them more comfortable with us. And the new generation is producing a lot less homophobes, because those who are gay are coming out earlier and those who are not are much more secure in their own sexuality. Let's see what more time brings us.

[Wayde L Taylor]

04:06 AM on 10/22/2011

I think its a lot less serious than this. Its a bunch of high school football players, I think we can all remember back to high school where we tried to act more macho than necessary for god knows why. This is just another example of stupid kids trying to prove their masculinity. Most will grow up sooner or later.

[hhl482]

08:20 PM on 10/21/2011

"After two male actors shared a brief kiss on the lips on stage, a group of students, most of them male and many of them football players, got up and left the auditorium."
How many were holding their books in front of their crotches?

[rMatey]

07:20 PM on 10/21/2011

So why did they walk out? They must have felt threatened with the urge to get into the act and bite one.

[Eric Watkins]

08:48 PM on 10/25/2011

Maybe they were disgusted by a group of people shoving their personal pro- gay agenda down their throats.

[AntithiChrist]

06:51 PM on 10/27/2011

Maybe they couldn't wait to try out kissing another guy themselves.

[Flamingidealist]

05:38 PM on 10/21/2011

I just saw the show this afternoon and there were actually seven kisses, five of which were same sex. As a community member, I have to say that I was very impressed with most of the young people in the room. Even though some of them got up and left (only four or five out of several hundred) they did it in a very respectful way. They quietly and calmly excused themselves and we're escorted to, what I believe was, an alternative study hall. Thanks Hartford Public High for showing the respect that everyone involved earned.

[lambdin1]

03:53 PM on 10/21/2011

Funny. We now know where hate is learned. In the home and not neccesarily in the school. We need to applaud the principal and others that stayed with it. For the male football players, I played football, was in the army and.... I showered with many of you and you never ever knew!!!
Grow up!

[BookPRGirl]

01:56 PM on 10/21/2011

Hi, I'd like to humbly add Gina Barreca's Hartford Courant Opinion piece to the comments and discussion here. http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-barreca-kiss-hartford-1021-20111021,0,5027782.column

[imlaughlin]

01:12 PM on 10/26/2011

Thanks for the link. However, the pic of the high school boys' kiss seemed to reveal the reason for the objections by students. The theme could have been conveyed without actual, over the top lip-mashing. In high school plays around here, anyway, even boy/girl kisses are "acted" rather than actual make-out events.

[RCnDC]

01:55 PM on 10/21/2011

I'm sure they would have crashed the stage had it been 2 women....

[RCnDC]

01:54 PM on 10/21/2011

Of course they did, they were heading to the bathroom stalls..... Even soft soft porn is too much for some closeted people...

[DevonTexas]

01:49 PM on 10/21/2011

Frankly, I'm not surprused. It struck too close to home for them. Football is so very gay.

[Gregor53]

06:03 PM on 10/21/2011

Just because one guy has his hands between anothers legs and they slap each other on the rear means nothing. Then there are the passes to other guys...