Tragic Car Crash Takes Life Of Gay South African Student Whose Picture Kissing Boyfriend Appeared On Front Page Of Student Paper A Month Ago

Last month, the editors of the Cape Town Stellenbosch University’s Die Matie student newspaper made a decision to run a photograph on the front page featuring students Bjorn Czepan and Mark Dean Brown, boyfriends, engaged in a kiss, the two having opted to participate in the predominately heterosexual event Soen in die Laan or Kiss in the Avenue. That moment changed forever the two men’s lives, as well as the lives of countless others, gay and straight, challenging traditional definitions of romance, and of sexuality – Czepan and Brown becoming a symbol for gay rights, for acceptance and tolerance. Now, news that the two were involved in a car accident in Woodstock, a suburb of Cape Town, last week, Czepan, a native of Germany, killed and Brown in critical condition. A third student, Brian Kline, also involved, is in hospital where he remains in critical, but stable condition.