MANIPULATION
"It's Elementary: Talking about Gay Issues in School," is a 78 minute film
produced by Women's Educational Media to promote the inclusion of gay and lesbian issues
in elementary and junior high school curriculum. The film is created to be a guide for
teachers. The film makers went into sympathetic schools around the country and filmed
model classes with real students. They also interviewed teachers and principals.
What struck me first about the film was the manipulative, indeed almost Maoist,
techniques used by the teachers. It was clear that these techniques were not used only on
this issue, but as a general practice. In various ways the teachers create the illusion of
openness and free discussion, when it is clear that only one opinion is acceptable.
Students with politically incorrect opinions are shamed into toeing the politically
correct line. In one segment students admitted that before the discussion they held
politically incorrect opinions, but they confessed their guilt and avowed conversion to
ideologically correct opinions.
Throughout the class discussion totalitarian mind set of the teachers is evident, as is
their anti-Christian bias. The teachers and administrators make it clear that they want
the programs to be mandatory. They do not want the parents informed and they do not want
to have to obtain parental permission.
During a segment in which teachers discuss preparation for Gay and Lesbian Pride Day, a
earnest black teacher questions the impact of the program on students who come from
families whose religious beliefs differ from the politically correct opinion. She asks if
by having a school-wide Gay and Lesbian Pride Day celebration the school is saying that the
students have to support this even if they hold religious beliefs which differ from this
position. The teachers hem and haw and then a young teacher admits that they are asking
this kids to believe homosexuality is right.
It is clear that these teachers allow no diversity when it comes to the orthodoxy of
the politically correct. I believe that it would be almost impossible for the ordinary
child to stand up to this kind of pressure.
TEASING
The teachers and principals explain that the reason gay and lesbian lessons are needed
in elementary school is because children are using epithets implying homosexuality -- gay,
faggot, queer, dike, homo -- as all purpose insults on the playground and in the halls and
this is upsetting to homosexual students and teachers.
I would agree that name calling of any kind is wrong and psychologically damaging and
should be controlled by teachers. However, a student who uses the "f " word does
not need instruction on the proper names for sexual intimacy, but immediate discipline. If
a student says "damn you to hell" a teacher does not have to launch into a
weeklong theological discussion on last things, a simple "That is unacceptable
language, say it again and you will be punished" should be sufficient. These teachers
are apparently unable to control the students and want to use the name-calling as an
excuse for propagandizing their students.
FACTS
The teachers insist that all they want is to provide facts and dispel stereotypes, but
they provide no facts, only pro-homosexual propaganda. The overwhelming evidence that
same-sex attraction is a preventable and treatable developmental disorder is ignored.
Instead the unproved claim that homosexuals are "born that way" is promoted.
This is particularly tragic since children at-risk for adolescent and adult
homosexuality frequently exhibit symptoms which are easily recognized by teachers. Early
intervention and treatment can not only prevent a homosexual outcome, it can also
eliminate childhood isolation and humiliation. It would be wrong for students to tease a
child with a severe physical deformity, but it would be even more wrong for the adults
into whose care the child was entrusted to leave a treatable condition untreated.
Tolerance in this case would constitute abuse.
Same-sex attraction is often rooted in traumatic or disordered experiences occurring in
the first 4 years of life. The child feels that he or she is profoundly different from the
same-sex parent and peers. The symptoms include gender dysphoria (the desire to be the
other sex) and gender identity problems. These problems lead to socially disruptive
behavior which produces teasing from adults and peers. This teasing heightens and confirms
the child's sense of differentness. Teasing is wrong and should be prevented, but labeling
a child as unchangeably homosexual is worse. These children have a right to develop their
full heterosexual potential. They may, however, need special help to do so.
Homosexuality carry a number of risks, the most serious of which is exposure to
sexually transmitted diseases. One out of two men who have sex with men will eventually
become HIV positive or infected with another potentially fatal sexually transmitted
diseases. About 30% of homosexually active men and women have serious drug and alcohol
problems. About 40% have been victims of childhood sexual abuse or adult sexual violence.
Prevention, early intervention, and treatment while not 100% effective, do work in many
cases. Parents, teachers, pediatricians, and students have a right to know the real facts.
"It's Elementary" is propaganda in its most pure form. If it is proposed or
presented in your community, I would recommend as an antidote, a short video from Homosexuals Anonymous,
entitled "A Path to Freedom," which explains the homosexual condition and how
people can find freedom from homosexual compulsion. It is excellent.
