Debra Chasnoff

Educators today face a dilemma. They need to discuss lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and issues in age-appropriate ways and yet often still lack the tools and support to do so. Some school administrators and school board activists mistakenly view such efforts as too "controversial" or somehow political.

When we first released It's Elementary – Talking about Gay Issues in School a decade ago, it was the first film of its kind. The documentary presented an opportunity for teachers and parents to view real life examples of LGBT people and issues being talked about in actual K-8 classrooms. At that time, many teachers could not imagine even mentioning the words "lesbian" or "gay," much less facilitating a class discussion about the existence of LGBT people in their lives.

However, the reality today is that children of all ages are more aware than ever that LGBT people exist. No matter where they live, young children are likely to know LGBT family members or neighbors, to hear LGBT issues discussed around them, or to view representations of LGBT people in the media. As early as kindergarten, children repeat the anti-gay slurs that they have heard in popular culture, without realizing that such comments hurt others in their classroom and community.

Spurred by a decade of research on the effects of anti-gay harassment, as well as a growing awareness of the true diversity of their communities, educators across the country are now recognizing the need to address LGBT issues proactively in their schools. Teachers of all grades are recognizing both that they have LGBT students and students with LGBT family members and that homophobic teasing hurts the well-being of all members of their school community by encouraging bullying and limiting academic achievement.

Yet, by the time students are encouraged to build respect for difference, such lessons become a process of "unlearning" the prejudice that has been tolerated for years. When educators are serious about building positive and inclusive school environments, talking about LGBT people will no longer be censored until high school health class, but rather will be integrated throughout school curricula. Despite politicized arguments to the contrary, acknowledging the existence of LGBT people does not require a discussion of sexual practices anymore than a discussion of non-LGBT people does. As our films show, it can easily be done in developmentally sensitive ways.

With community support, teachers have frequently had to develop age-appropriate methods to explore with their students issues that are important but potentially highly charged, such as race relations, the environment, poverty, elections and war. Similarly today, young people need to be able to have conversations with their peers in safe, structured settings at school about the often contradictory and inflammatory information they encounter about LGBT people.

In recognition of the 10th anniversary of its original release, we at GroundSpark are re-releasing It's Elementaryon DVD to make this tool accessible to a new generation of educators. An updated curriculum guide and a companion documentary, It's STILL Elementary, accompany the re-released film. When making It's STILL Elementary, we went back and interviewed many of the original film's participants about the impact of the film on their lives.

One of these was a young woman named Chloe Moushey, who was nine years old at the time the original film was made. We first filmed her when her third grade teacher was leading a lesson about famous people who happen to be gay or lesbian. When we caught up with her later at college, she reflected on that elementary school lesson. Chloe told us, "Education is never wrong. If you present the facts and you allow someone to think about it for themselves, I don't think there are very many downsides to that."

We agree with Chloe. Educators have a legal, professional, and ethical responsibility to ensure that their schools are safe and welcoming environments for all children. Providing teachers with the tools, skills, and support to address anti-gay bias and to discuss LGBT people in a developmentally appropriate manner is an integral part of meeting that responsibility. There aren't any downsides to that.

Debra Chasnoff is the director of It's Elementary—Talking about Gay Issues in School (1996) and It's STILL Elementary (2007). She is the Executive Director of GroundSpark.

Published October 18, 2007