It's Elementary

A new video claims to show teachers how to create a "tolerant" classroom. But it turns out to teach much more.

By John Paulk

Last summer, millions of Americans viewed a controversial television documentary called "It's Elementary" on select PBS stations around the country. The purpose of the film is to promote respect and tolerance for gays and lesbians among elementary-age school children.

The National Education Association endorses the film as a resource for teachers to use "in the very place where the discussion needs to be--in school, starting in the primary grades."

When I watched "It's Elementary," I was impressed with how well the film was produced. However, as a former homosexual who is now the father of two young sons, I found the program unbalanced, inaccurate, dishonest and harmful.

I'm all in favor of teaching children that it's wrong to laugh at or demean homosexuals, or physically hurt other children who identify themselves as homosexuals--or who have parents who identify themselves as homosexual. I know what it is like to be singled out and picked on for not being "like the other boys."

This program, however, was not designed to promote true respect toward individuals because of their intrinsic worth as people created by God. Instead, "It's Elementary" aims to indoctrinate teachers and children with the belief that homosexuality is normal and morally acceptable, and that objecting to homosexual behavior amounts to bigotry and hate.

The film is a model of subterfuge--calculated to close off dissent and circumvent inconvenient issues. In one revealing scene, a teacher plays an audio recording of a song from the Disney movie, "The Lion King."

The teacher asks his students, "Who is singing this song?"

The children all recognize that Elton John is the artist. The teacher reveals that Elton is a homosexual. You can see the confusion on the faces of the children. The take-away message is obvious--if you like Elton John's music, you should be comfortable with his homosexuality.

"It's Elementary" glorifies homosexuality and promotes a profound disrespect for the moral convictions of religious people who disapprove of homosexual behavior. The not-so-subtle message throughout the video is that people who oppose homosexuality--especially Christians--should be considered dangerous to children's mental health.

For instance, at one point in the film, a young boy says that Christians believe that homosexuality is a sin. Then he adds, sarcastically, "So torture and kill them [i.e. homosexuals]."

How can the producers claim to fight prejudice when they leave this child's wildly mistaken characterization of Christianity uncorrected?

In fact, "It's Elementary" makes no allowance for any perspective on homosexuality other than its own. In one scene a group of elementary teachers are planning a "Gay and Lesbian Pride Day" to be celebrated during a school assembly. One teacher asks her fellow educators if they would endorse this lifestyle even when students morally oppose homosexuality. Another teacher responds, "There is no right way, there is no wrong way, there is no good way, there is no bad way. What it is is what it is."

For all their dogmatism, the producers seem unhindered by any concern for truth. Some of the "facts" they present are incorrect, incomplete and little more than ideology masquerading as reality. The film boldly asserts that 30 percent of all teen suicides are committed by gay youth who were driven by "internalized homophobia" to kill themselves. What viewers are not told, however, is that the study supporting this claim was conducted by a gay activist and employed shoddy methods and unproven assumptions.

The program also states as fact the claim that homosexuality has been scientifically proven to be biological and inborn. Yet every study purporting to prove the existence of a "gay gene" has been debunked, nor have any such studies been replicated.

In addition to presenting questionable or bogus facts, the video fails to present information about the enormous health risks of homosexual behavior, or about its negative emotional and psychological consequences. A 1998 report from the Centers for Disease Control states that 65 percent of all reported AIDS cases among males since 1981 are men who have engaged in homosexual behavior. According to the American Medical Association, gay youth are 23 times more likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases than heterosexuals.

Testimonials from men and women who are proud of their homosexuality are featured, but any voices of former gays and lesbians whose dissatisfaction with homosexuality led them to change their sexual orientation are conspicuously absent.

All in all, this video misleads students, their parents and teachers on one of the most pressing issues in American culture. When was the last time you allowed someone to deceive your class?