By Ann Rodgers
A Denver Public Schools teacher was allegedly fired after an administrative law judge found that during class time, she made students participate in role-playing scenarios involving same-sex kissing and graded them based on their participation.
The Denver Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously in May to terminate Jennifer Honka, a French teacher at Northeast Early College (NEC), after reviewing the findings of Administrative Law Judge Keith J. Kirchubel, the Denver Gazette reported. The board accepted the judge’s recommendation following an executive session and did so without public discussion.
According to the outlet, students complained that they felt “pressured and uncomfortable” performing classroom skits that involved same-sex kissing scenes. While the judge found that Honka did not physically force students to kiss, he concluded that the coercive nature of the assignments placed students in an uncomfortable position regarding consent and personal boundaries.
OMG
Denver Public Schools Board just voted UNANIMOUSLY to DISMISS lgbtq teacher Jennifer Honka after she reportedly made female students kiss each other and graded them on it
What is going on in these schools?! pic.twitter.com/UjzgTK0HAQ
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 16, 2026
“Regardless of whether Respondent ‘forced’ the participants to kiss, her choice of script forced them to express their preferences and consent about a very personal and sexualized activity on the spot in front of their peers” and pressured them to engage in the activity itself, Kirchubel wrote in his decision, according to the Denver Gazette.
CBS Colorado reported that there had been multiple allegations made against the teacher starting in the 2023-24 school year. Several students, all the same sex, approached other teachers to confide in them about what was happening in Honka’s class.
An English teacher at NEC testified that several students had spoken to her about the classroom activity. CBS Colorado reported that one student told the teacher that she had been “asked to kiss three other girls in one of (Honka)’s skits.”
One student who was interviewed during the review said that despite a nearly even split of boys and girls in the class, she “could not recall Honka choosing a boy actor.” This same student had refused to participate in the alleged teacher-sanctioned make-out and testified that she received a failing score on the assignment, according to CBS Colorado.
Honka argued students could have opted out of the activity. However, the investigation showcased a classroom policy stating that “The answer is always ‘yes’ in this class,” a rule Honka said she used to encourage compliance with classroom expectations, reported the Denver Gazette.
A student told the independent reviewer that the rule was actually referenced by Honka frequently and used as a way to get students to participate in the skits, according to CBS Colorado.
The judge concluded that the issue was not the use of skits as a language-learning tool, but rather the specific content of the scripts chosen for the assignments. One skit she employed in the classroom was “The Boring Kiss,” reported CBS Colorado, where the characters are directed to kiss each other three separate times. (RELATED: Disease-Ridden Gay Activists Stage Border ‘Kiss-In’ To Protest Trump Immigration Policies)
The investigation also uncovered other concerns unrelated to the kissing exercises. The Denver Gazette reported that district officials were troubled by personal disclosures Honka allegedly made to students, including discussions about suicidal thoughts, childhood abuse, and the conception of her son through IVF with a sperm donor. The judge’s decision stated that Honka told students she had once experienced an impulse to “drive in front of a semi-truck” to commit suicide.
The dismissal became official after the board’s unanimous vote, ending a disciplinary process that began after a complaint was filed in February 2025, according to the Denver Gazette. The board agreed that her actions amounted to “incompetence and neglect of duty.”
