‘Elementary’ Gauges How Gay Issues Treated in Class

Debra Chasnoff’s “It’s Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School” offers a highly encouraging survey of how teachers across the country are tackling one of the most controversial subjects in American society--and showing how it can be done in a responsible, enlightening manner.

In the face of a vociferous religious right that proclaims homosexuality a sin and therefore a topic not suitable for the classroom, schools are asking youngsters what they know about gays and lesbians. They are asked where they got their information--mainly from TV and the movies and mainly negative--and whether or not they think it’s right or wrong to ridicule and discriminate against those they sense are different from themselves.

Educators on view here take pains to keep discussions on the level of tolerance and respect for all kinds of people. Most important, they are very sensitive to the age levels of their pupils and steer away from sex to get kids to start thinking about how they feel about gays and lesbians and why and how little most know about them.

Out of the classroom, Chasnoff--who won an Oscar for her powerful, controversial expose “Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment”--gets educators to talk about the various aspects of dealing with this thorny subject. Some gay teachers, for instance, can feel especially vulnerable in bringing up homosexuality in the classroom, while others feel they can be important role models for their adolescent pupils. (Chasnoff points out that 30% of teen suicides are gay.) In one class the children are amazed to learn that Elton John and Melissa Etheridge are gay--and then decide they still like them and their music.

One principal tells of successfully presenting an exhibition of photos of gay and lesbian families, another holds a fourth annual gay and lesbian pride day celebration; it is perhaps significant that both schools are in Cambridge, Mass., the home of Harvard University, which one would expect might be more open to progressive views than many other communities.

In general, the more the youngsters think about homosexuality the more they think about how they would like to be treated if they were gay. One Madison, Wis., parent points out that homosexuality is simply a reality and “awareness needs to be there for children.” The benefits of such awareness could not be better demonstrated than in one classroom celebration: On Mother’s Day, a little girl recites a loving essay about her two mothers.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: The film is suitable family viewing.

‘It’s Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School’

A Women’s Educational Media presentation. Writer-producer-director Debra Chasnoff. Co-producer Helen Cohen. Editor Shirley Thompson. Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes.

* Exclusively at the Nuart through Wednesday, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles, (310) 478-6379.