TRAGEDY FOR STELLENBOSCH GAY KISS COUPLE

Mark Dean Brown and Bjorn Czepan, the two men who caused a stir when a picture of them kissing was published by Stellenbosch University’s student newspaper, Die Matie, have been in a tragic accident.

The Cape Times has reported that Czepan, from Germany, was killed in a Woodstock, Cape Town car crash, which also left Brown in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

A third student, Brian Kline, was in the accident last week and is also said to be in a critical but stable condition.

Brown and Czepan made international headlines last month when the image, snapped at the annual university ‘Soen in die Laan’ kiss-in event, became the subject of controversy on the conservative campus.

The photo, taken by The newspaper’s photo editor, Vanessa Smeets, was both welcomed and criticised by students, some of whom destroyed or defaced copies of the newspaper.

“It was a nice kiss and worth travelling to Stellenbosch for,” Czepan – a student at the University of Cape Town – told Rapport newspaper following the controversy.

Matthew Gardiner, a friend of Czepan, told the Cape Times: “Bjorn couldn’t understand the ‘Soen in die Laan’ situation could make so much of an impact, but he was also very proud that he had been able to help a lot of people come to terms with their sexuality through that kiss.”