Two young men electrified a conservative South African town when a picture of them kissing prompted anger–mostly from area males–but also spoke to gays of passion, commitment… and normalcy. The photo, capturing a moment in time, is immortal–but a month after it was taken, one of the young men is dead, and the other in critical condition, following a car crash.
The photograph of Bjorn Czepan and Mark Dean Brown kissing was taken by Vanessa Smeets at a Stellenbosch University event called Kiss in the Avenue. Gay and lesbian couples participated in the event this year; the photo of Czepan and Brown made the front page of the school paper, Die Matie.
The two young men were students at another school, Cape Town University, but they nonetheless became instant “symbols for tolerance and gay rights at the predominantly Afrikaner [university],” reported British newspaper The Guardian on Sept. 9.
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