Two Arizona high school students were punished for fighting by holding hands in the middle of the courtyard for 15 minutes during lunch.

The Westwood High School students in Mesa, Ariz., were given the option of either holding hands or being suspended from school, ABC News reports.Photos and video of the boys, who covered their faces, eventually wound up on Facebook and Twitter. Their peers taunted the boys by calling them names and asking, "Are you gay?"

Some social media commenters felt that the punishment was childish, inappropriate, or fostered a tolerance for bullying and taunting language.

A spokeswoman for Mesa Public Schools said that a teacher devised the punishment, and that the district does not condone it. 

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