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by Yvette Cuenco
Clayton Valley High School, Concord
The students seem unfazed by the word "homosexuality," and continue to listen. This is not your typical day in school.
"It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School," a new documentary film, examines the idea of gay issues being discussed in the classroom. "It's Elementary" was written, directed, and produced by Debra Chasnoff with Helen Cohen as a co-producer.
"I think this type of film is what's sorely needed for teachers, community leaders, and students for the homophobic impact on our schools," said John Spear, assistant director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Network based in New York City.
"It's Elementary," was filmed in six elementary and middle schools, including Luther Burbank Middle School in San Francisco. Other locations were in New York City, Cambridge, Mass. and Madison, Wisc.
"I thought, `Wouldn't it be great to reach people before they form a prejudice?'" said the 38-year-old filmmaker, Chasnoff. Chasnoff is a lesbian who lives with her companion Kim Klausner and their two sons, Noah,7, and Oscar,2. Cohen and Chasnoff run a non-profit San Francisco production company called Women's Educational Media.
Chasnoff wanted Noah, who attends a San Francisco public school, to be able to deal with homosexuality issues, particularly subjects pertaining to his family, since he has two mothers.
Because the documentary was to be filmed in the classrooms, the filmmakers had to get permission from the schools and the parents. This made it hard because some principals were afraid of being persecuted for advocating the discussion of homosexuality in the classroom. According to Chasnoff, some parents didn't have a problem with their child's class being filmed, while others prevented their children from attending school on filming days.
In Wisconsin the filmmakers did face problems getting permission to film at Hawthorne Elementary School in Madison, but the superintendent finally agreed to the filming. They also faced protests from some religious groups and opposing parents. During the filming, the PTA president kept his daughter home.
"I feel really safe about doing it," said Hawthorne teacher Kate Lyman during the filming. " Particularly since I recently got remarried, so I've got a husband. People aren't going to say, `Oh, you know, maybe she's a lesbian, maybe she's trying to promote her cause.' It's very important that I speak about it, because I know that the gay and lesbian staff members have a very, very difficult time dealing with the issue."
Overall, the majority of the students seemed to understand what being gay or lesbian meant, including those who were in first or second grade.
The discussion of gay issues was approached in many different ways at all the schools. They made a list of words they felt were connected to homosexuality, wrote essays on what they felt about gays or lesbians, painted pictures of what comes to mind when they hear the word "homosexuality," and a couple of students even told their class that they had two mothers.
In a scene at Cambridge Friends School in Massachusetts, a teacher announced to the students during an assembly for Gay and Lesbian Pride Day that he was gay. The response was positive. At Hawthorne Elementary School in Wisconsin, a teacher showed his class pictures of famous people who are gay, including singers Elton John and Melissa Etheridge. One girl just sat in amazement with her jaw dropped while her teacher presented famous faces she knew. Two speakers, one lesbian and one gay, came to San Francisco's Luther Burbank Middle School to answer the students' questions.
"It's Elementary" made its premiere on June 5 at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. It is one of the 207 films featured at the International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in San Francisco which begins the weekend of June 22-23 and will run for 10 days. The film will also be shown at the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association conference on September 5 in Miami.
"You have to come to the realization that it's in our society, it's reality, it's what's going on," said Hawthorne Elementary parent Terri Strong in the film. "The person in the next cubicle over from you could be gay or lesbian. And you have to work with that person. You don't have to believe in what they do or what they say, but you have to ... the awareness needs to be there for children."