Concerned Women For America

May 1999

It’s Elementary

Children are our future. What we invest and instill in them will determine the cultural values of generations to come. Homosexual activists understand this principle all too clearly. As a result, they released a video designed to reshape the way American children understand homosexuality. The video, entitled, It’s Elementary: Talking about Gay and Lesbian Issues in School, is a masterful work of propaganda. It is vital for people to understand that this video is not for adults. The target audience is children. Activists are after the heart and minds of the next generation. It’s Elementary opens with pro-family Sen. Robert Smith (R-New Hampshire) arguing that Congress should withhold federal funds from school districts which promote homosexuality. The senator’s comments are interspersed with schoolchildren’s thoughts on homosexuality, such as "homosexuals are not bad people." Then the video cuts to the senator saying, "We must protect taxpayers by keeping this trash out of schools . . . and it is trash."1 At this point, the heavily slanted tone of the video is set to endorse homosexuality and disparage anyone who holds reasonable objections. It takes viewers on a tour of classes where teachers address the issue of homosexuality. No Wrong Answers? The first stop is New York Public School 87. In this elementary school, teacher Cora Sangra leads her fourth grade class in a discussion of homosexuality. "There are no right or wrong answers," she says. But by the clever way in which she directs the class discussion, it’s clear she really doesn’t mean that. By simply asking questions, she steers the class discussion toward the conclusion that homosexuality is normal and natural. These young children absorb this message like a sponge. The next stop is Hawthorne Elementary School in Madison, Wisconsin. Here, Daithi Wolfe leads his third grade class in an exercise dealing with homosexuality. Wolfe draws a circle on the chalk board and writes "Gay and Lesbian" in the center. Then he has the class brainstorm about this subject, and he writes their ideas on the board. All negative ideas are written on the right side. All positive words, he writes on the left. One girl self consciously suggests the word "weird." Up on the right side it goes. Later someone says: "Nazi." Again, it goes on the right alongside "weird." What message is sent? Wolfe continues his lesson by telling his students that Michelangelo was a gay man. He plays a section of "Circle of Life," the theme song from the popular movie The Lion King and asks the children if they know who sings the song. "Elton John!" the children respond with excitement. Wolfe informs them that Elton John is a gay man. Many of the children are astonished. When he notes that Melissa Etheridge is a lesbian, the girl who suggested the word "weird" sinks back into her seat mouthing the words "a lesbian" as a glazed look comes over her eyes. "Give Us the Facts?" The video then takes its viewers to an independent school in New York City, known as Manhattan Country School. Junior high students discuss the appropriateness of teaching about homosexuality in schools. "Schools need to give us all the facts and let us decide," one eighth grader commented. But what kind of "facts" are the teachers providing? No one ever seems to share the "facts" about how homosexuality places people at a higher risk for sexually transmitted diseases. One girl complains about how some material has an "in your face" approach. She disagrees with it because it tends to "freak kids out." But a fellow student soon chastises her, saying, "The reason they freak out is because they haven’t seen it before . . . It needs to be thrown at them." Next, at Luther Burbank Middle School in San Francisco, California, teachers brought homosexuals into the classroom to talk to the kids. The young teens tended to be opposed to homosexuality at first, but they soften toward it by the end of the presentation. One teacher at Burbank comments on why he believes it is important to cover such topics in class. "If the educational system does not deal with these issues early on, then there’s bashing in the streets." The principal of Luther Burbank Middle School agrees, saying, "[Homosexual education] should be mandatory. [The students] need to understand it so they can move on to learning." He is suggesting that without accepting the homosexual lifestyle, children are hindered from learning. Early in the film, producers strive to discredit those who would oppose such teachings—particularly on the basis of faith and religion. Spliced in between children’s musings are strategically selected clips from "Donahue" and "The Ricki Lake Show" in which "Christians" say such things as: "God hates faggots!" and "The Bible I read says homosexuals should be put to death." Never is any time given to a genuine Christian perspective which focuses on issues of sin, forgiveness, deliverance and reconciliation. A Healthy Education? The last school visit is to Cambridge Friends School in Massachusetts. This elementary school annually celebrates Gay and Lesbian Pride Day. The day before Pride Day, teachers gather for a faculty meeting to discuss how they plan to celebrate it in their classrooms. One teacher poses a very interesting question: "What if a child comes from a family that believes homosexuality is wrong? Are we supposed to tell them that homosexuality is right and their family is wrong?" Several teachers try to hedge their way around this question with comments on diversity and tolerance. Then finally one teacher says what the others have only been brave enough to infer: "We are asking kids to believe this is right—not as a matter of moral principle, but as a matter of educating them, and this is a part of what we consider to be a healthy education." The following day at the school assembly, children cheerfully—and ironically—sing "This Little Light of Mine." Teachers and children alike wear pink triangle pins in support of homosexuality. And a male teacher "comes out" to the children. He is both dynamic and eloquent, and the children react with wild applause. A teacher then speaks to the children with "tears of joy" in her eyes, sharing how proud she is of them and their acceptance of homosexuality—"they give her hope for a better future." The video concludes with a series of bogus statistics regarding hate crimes and gay teen suicide in an effort to emphasize the importance of homosexual education in the schools. The hour and a half long video is a Debra Chasnoff/Helen Cohen film produced by Women’s Education Media (WEM). Debra Chasnoff, an Academy Award winning director, used her Oscar for a previous film to "come out" as a lesbian. Chasnoff’s purpose in creating the film is two-fold: to counter the "hysteria of the Religious Right"2 and to capture the hearts and minds of the next generation. In a recent interview, Chasnoff openly states, "What’s clear in the film is that, the younger the kids, the more open they were . . . If we could start doing this kind of education in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, we’d have a better generation."3 Co-producer Helen Cohen echoed this sentiment when she said the film is, "another medium to affect social change."4 Chasnoff is currently working on another film which explores different kinds of families, including gay and lesbian couples with children. The intended audience for this film is students—our children. Distribution, Awards and Endorsements It’s Elementary received widespread support and distribution at the National Education Association’s (NEA) 1997 national convention held in Atlanta. A lesbian caucus used the video as its big feature, and the NEA Peace and Justice Caucus promoted the video, labeling it "masterful." The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) was on hand to advertise books, video lists and Internet resources. Targeted to state departments of education, local school boards, parents and teachers, the video has been screened in at least six states. California Assemblyman Sheila J. Huehl, an professed lesbian, intends to have it shown in all 50 states and has hosted a special screening for state education policymakers. Endorsements include the Minnesota Parent-Teacher Association and the American Library Association, who called it "a sterling production" and "highly recommended." The American School Counselor Association is making copies of the video available to schools across the nation. It’s Elementary has won several awards, including the C.I.N.E. Golden Eagle for the Best Teacher Education film of 1996. There are high expectations it will be nominated for a 1998 Oscar. The video has done "phenomenally well" according to Ariella Ben-Dov, an associate producer with WEM. "We’ve sold approximately 1,200 video tapes . . . most of those sales are to educational organizations: elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. They are being used for teacher training." Currently, WEM is soliciting financial support for national distribution, and various local PBS stations are airing the film in 1999.5 Stellar reviews have come from national mainstream media. The San Francisco Chronicle praised it as an "unabashedly biased, upbeat look at a subject that most parents would probably rather see disappear."6 The Boston Globe review was quite frank when it said, "The filmmakers’ agenda is so clear, so unapologetic, the final result is refreshing."7 Sympathetic reviews such as these bolster support for the video and help gain approval for its distribution. What Can We Do? The video is clearly propaganda designed to change the next generation’s perspective on homosexuality. Larger than this is the fact that it was funded in part by your tax dollars through a National Endowment for the Arts grant to Portland Art Museum Northwest Film Center. But, most important, is the toll exacted on our kids. What is the real cost of It’s Elementary? Do we want a generation that advocates an unnatural, immoral and harmful lifestyle and behavior? Will our children become the generation which legislates and compels acceptance of homosexuality? Moral obligation to Godly truth demands that we protect the minds of our children. Children today hold the public opinions of tomorrow. Abraham Lincoln understood the importance of education when he stated, " The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." At the heart of this cultural war lies the hopes and dreams of our children. One cannot help but fear the legacy we leave! Should we not speak out? Let’s give our children an education that teaches them how to reason, not what to think. America does not need more false and damaging propaganda pumped into the schools. Children are our future. The values we teach them will determine what tomorrow looks like. It is up to parents, teachers and others to make sure children do not become prey to such cleverly crafted propaganda campaigns. Children deserve the truth, and the truth is that homosexuality is a profoundly unhealthy and immoral lifestyle. For the sake of future generations, let’s teach the real facts in our schools.

END NOTES

.It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues In School, prod. by Helen S. Cohen and Debra Chasnoff, dir. by Debra Chasnoff, Women's Educational Media, 1997, (Videocassette, 78 min.).

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