“Most of the time, I put gays and lesbians down. I know it’s not right, but I do it anyway. I say things like ‘gay men molest children.’ But that’s not true. Most of the time, I don’t even know what I’m saying. I say it all out of ignorance. I should find out what’s true first before saying anything about gays and lesbians.”

That’s one of the more memorable quotes from Debra Chasnoff and Helen S. Cohen’s 1997 ground-breaking documentary, It’s Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in Schools. The film showed teachers launching open, non-judgmental, age-appropriate discussions with students of varied ages, locations, and backgrounds about what it means to be gay. Students spoke candidly about their perception and acknowledged stereotypes of LGB people, and educators testified about the importance of addressing LGB issues at an early age. Chasnoff and Cohen made the documentary with the hope of showing parents and educators that “children are eager and able to wrestle with stereotypes and absorb facts about what it means to be gay or lesbian,” and without a doubt, the film shows this to be true.