It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School is a 1996 American documentary film directed by Debra Chasnoff and Helen Cohen. It provides educators with information on how to teach elementary schoolchildren to be tolerant of gay and lesbian people. The film was noted as the "first of its kind" and was generally well received, although there was some backlash from conservatives. It was released in several film festivals, and had screenings in the 2000s.
The documentary received little support from PBS, owing to backlash from the American Family Association. Prior to airing the film, television stations received calls, letters, and e-mails from people who did not want PBS program directors to broadcast It's Elementary. The film was awarded the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary, Best Documentary at the Reeling Film Festival, and the Silver Spire from the San Francisco International Film Festival, among other awards. The film had two sequels: That's a Family! and It's Still Elementary.
Background
Debra Chasnoff wanted to direct an educational video series that deals with teaching children about issues involving people who are homosexual, but she learned that there was not much information about the topic that was aimed towards educators. She said, "The current conservative political climate, which is incredibly hostile to the mere mention of homosexuality, has made many teachers afraid of talking to kids about gays and lesbians".
The lack of available information motivated Chasnoff to continue trying to complete the film. Chasnoff and producer Helen Cohen talked to American teachers who already had curricula involving gay people. It was hard for them to gain entry into the schools, as multiple staff and parents did not want to be recorded. Some of the parents kept their children away from the school during filming. The schools are in San Francisco and New York City, as well as Madison, Wisconsin, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Chasnoff said in 1999, "Sadly, part of the reason I think the film is being picked up is because of the time. Our campaign falls within the same window of time that the Matthew Shepard murder and trial are going on, the murder of Billy Jack Gaither, and now Colorado", referring to the homophobic language that had been used to harass the perpetrators of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.
Synopsis
Directed by Chasnoff and Cohen, the film was described by the book Voices of Transgender Children in Early Childhood Education as "the first of its kind" to provide educators with information on how to prevent discrimination against people who are gay. It focuses on the education of elementary schoolchildren to not be intolerant of those who are gay or lesbian. In the film, first-grade through eighth-grade students talk about LGBTQ subjects. The younger children were often more accepting of those who are LGBTQ. The film has two versions: one of which is just under 40 minutes long, and the other of which is 78 minutes long. The cut version was created as a training version.
The teachers that were surveyed had various teaching methods of educating about homosexuality. The educators included a fourth-grade teacher who "encourages her students to brainstorm on the words 'gay' and 'lesbian', and to talk about the roots of their associations, assumptions, and attitudes". An eighth-grade teacher dismantled stereotypes about people who are gay or lesbian while also having their students interview a gay man and a lesbian woman. A principal of an elementary school held a photography event at the school named "Love Makes a Family", in which "families with gay and lesbian couples at the heads of households" are depicted. A girl with lesbian parents read a Mother's Day essay about her mothers. A fifth-grade teacher noticed that her students have no issues with pictures and stories of children and their gay parents. A Puerto Rican teacher stated that her heritage was part of her not being open to LGBTQ matters.