May 28, 1999. GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11

Gays + school + TV gets the right wing riled up

Film on school discussion of gays won't air on many public stations

by Doreen Cudnik

With the horrible images of the Columbine High School shootings still fresh in our minds, what could possibly cause anyone to object to the airing of an award-winning documentary about respecting others who are different?

When the people who are different are gays and lesbians, and the issue is how to discuss gay topics in an age-appropriate way to elementary through high school-age students, unfortunately, homophobia has a way of rearing its ugly head.

The film, It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School, produced in 1996 by partners Debra Chasnoff and Helen Cohen, was made available this spring to public television stations across the country for airing during Gay Pride Month in June.

Producers hoped that at least 100 stations would carry the show. The good news is that two-thirds of the stations in major markets have decided to air the show. But as of May 21, one-third have either decided not to air it or have yet to make a decision.

Why? Part of the reason was an early and organized campaign by many conservative organizations to characterize the film as a means "to recruit the next generation of sex partners." In a mass mailing, Dr. D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries in Florida exclaims, "THIS IS CHILD ABUSE!... It's Elementary is harmful. It must not air."

The American Family Association is raising money to produce their own videotitled Suffer the Children-which they say "exposes how this powerful pro-homosexual propaganda film is targeting our children."

But that assertion couldn't be further from the truth as viewers of the film can attest. Rather, said the right-wing-watching group People for the American Way, the film makes a compelling case that it is never too early to prevent prejudice, and that there are many sensitive, age-appropriate ways to talk to kids and promote respect for everyone in their communities."

The film opens with Republican Senator Robert Smith of New Hampshire arguing on the Senate floor to withhold federal funding for any curriculum that appears to "promote homosexuality." Smith thunders about how the government "must protect the taxpayers by keeping this trash out of our schools." Interspersed with Smith's comments are comments from fourth grade students at P.S. 87 in New York City about gays and lesbians. It's interesting to see who comes off looking more compassionate, well-reasoned, and educated about the issue.

"Nobody cares if you're gay—it's like, what's the big whoop?" one fourth grade boy says. Out of the mouths of babes.

A total of six elementary and middle schools, covering a broad range of class and ethnic groups, as well as geographic areas, agreed to let Chasnoff and Cohen's cameras into their classrooms.

"The fear is that we're talking about sex," Sangree said. “I don't think talking about homosexual sex is appropriate with elementary kids. But talking about people in different communities and biases and discrimination and how that affects people's lives, 1 think that is appropriate.

Many of the children didn't really know why they equated "gay and lesbian" with "wrong," they just knew that's what they had been told by parents and other family members, from television and from movies.

The filmmakers include disturbing footage from several talk shows like Ricki Lake ("Should Parents Ban Gays?") and Geraldo ("Can You Be Gay One Day and Straight the Next?")

Third grade teacher Daithi Wolfe of Hawthorne Elementary Public School in Madison, Wisconsin, said that the issue of gays and lesbians is "already there" with his students.

The blatant homophobia in movies like Beverly Hills Cop, Home Alone 2, and Ace Ventura. Pet Detective--films that many school-age children have watched over and over again is also exposed, making it plain to see how Hollywood influences young minds and shapes their attitudes about gays and lesbians.

"The kids are already thinking about it," he said.

One of the many humorous moments in the film is watching Wolfe's students react to the news that several famous people, among them Elton John and Melissa Etheridge, are gay.

Teacher Cora Sangree said that kids receive mostly misinformation about gays and lesbians, and that misinformation continuously gets reinforced. It is therefore important for schools to counter it, she said.

WOMEN'S EDUCATIONAL MEDIA

A gay teacher at Cambridge Friends School leads the school's fourth Lesbian-Gay Pride Day assembly.

For those opposed to the idea of teaching about homosexuality in the schools, one parent, Celia Klehr says, "At least this way it opens the topic so you then can discuss the topic with your children. It opens the dialogue."

Some of the cultural taboos around the issue of homosexuality are explored in the film. In the Manhattan Country School, an independent school in New York City, an eighth grade Latina girl discusses the struggle she had with her family over the school's gay and lesbian inclusion in the curriculum. Another girl in the same class, though, makes an interesting point.

"If kids are too young to be taught about homosexuality, then they're too young to be taught about heterosexuality," she says. "You've got to teach equality and instill that from the very beginning."

Robert Roth, who teaches eighth grade at Luther Burbank Middle School in San Francisco, speaks about how faggot is hurled as an insult in the hallways of his school.

"You can't just say 'stop," " Roth says. "You have to educate about it, or it will never stop."

One of the film's highlights is footage from the Fourth Annual Lesbian and Gay Pride Day at Cambridge Friends School, a Quaker school in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"At CFS, I can tell the truth that I'm a gay man, and that truth gives me so much more energy to be a better teacher, a

better co-worker and a better friend," a gay teacher tells the student assembly, who later burst into a chorus of "This Little Light of Mine."

Ultimately, that's what the film is about shining a light on a topic whose time has come.

"I know how hard

it was for me to grow up." said openly gay third grade teacher

Scott Hirschfeld. "If

I can help one child grow up and not feel so isolated, it's worth it to me."

Peabody Elementary School Principal Ellen Varella puts it another way: "We need to give the boys and girls as many experiences as possible," she says. "If they're going to be the leaders of tomorrow, and we do not give them these experiences, then we will not be improving our civilization.” ▷

Three Ohio stations will air the film

Public TV stations in Ohio and across the country were given a satellite feed of It's Elementary by the American Public Television Service earlier this year. Since it is not a PBS program, each station is free to decide if and when to air it.

Three Ohio stations have scheduled It's Elementary to air during June. The remaining five stations have not decided if they will air it, or have said they won't. The film's producers are asking viewers to thank stations which are broadcasting it, and urge the other stations to air it, if not in June, then at a later date.

Stations airing It's Elementary

WCET Channel 48, Cincinnati

Friday, June 18 at 11:30 pm 513-381-4033

comments_wcet@weet.pbs.org

WPTD Channel 16, Dayton Tuesday, June 8 at 10 pm 937-220-1600 gdpt@gdpt.pbs.org

WBGU Channel 27, Bowling Green Wednesday June 23 at 9 pm 419-372-2700 info@wbgu.bgsu.edu

Stations not airing the film

WVIZ Channel 25, Cleveland 216-398-2800

WOSU Channel 34, Columbus

614-292-9678

wosu@osu.edu

WEAO/WNEO Channels 45-49, Akron and Youngstown 330-677-4549

programs@wneo.pbs.org

WGTE Channel 34, Toledo

419-243-3091

http://www.wgte.org/TalkBack.html

WOUB and WOUC Channels 20 and 44, Athens 740-593-4555

webmaster@www.tcom.ohiou.edu

It's Elementary's distributor, Women's Educational Media of San Francisco, has a list of national airtimes on their web site at http:// www.womedia.org.

Producers Helen Cohen, left, and Debra Chasnoff.