Comments on: Marriage Equality in New York? It’s Elementary! http://groundspark.org/5299 Igniting Change Through Film Thu, 02 May 2013 14:27:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Elizabeth http://groundspark.org/5299/comment-page-1#comment-5901 Elizabeth Mon, 11 Jul 2011 23:04:06 +0000 http://groundspark.org/?p=5299#comment-5901 Debra, I am a teacher and have used both of your films for years. In fact I was a quiet "in the closet" ally until a friend asked me to attend a showing on campus of the first edition. After the film showing I of course spoke up as an ardent ally and have been doing so with gusto and volume ever since! I started teaching early childhood literacy and a colleague and I gave many talks on working with same sex parents (the first at some of the conferences we were at) and we focused on early childhood classrooms. After seeing the film I started collecting the "gay friendly" picture books for young children and continue to give many talks on them. Unfortunately we have to have them on reserve as they have been mis-shelved and lost in library limbo land. Recently I gave the library two books that I had several copies of to try to put with the regular collection. In the last two years I have been surprised by the reluctance of many of the teacher candidates to want to use these books with children. I do a survey of them to find out what books of this type they know and I usually get none or "Heather Has Two Mommies"! In the past most have been more eager to use these books. I find that even many of my gay, lesbian, and transgender friends don't know about them! When I give talks on them at True Colors and other GLBT-related conferences, people are so surprised that there are "so many" - just over 100 now! We were in Maine without the telly when all this happened in New York. Luckily we had internet and my family was rejoicing with me when the vote finally came and it was positive. I'm sure your film helped to make a positive impact either on this vote or the way in which it was received. So thank you so much for working on It's Elementary and the update. Your film made a big impact on my life and my work after seeing the first version. If more teachers and parents would use these books and discussions perhaps we could stop the bullying before the children are six or seven or eight! Debra, I am a teacher and have used both of your films for years. In fact I was a quiet “in the closet” ally until a friend asked me to attend a showing on campus of the first edition. After the film showing I of course spoke up as an ardent ally and have been doing so with gusto and volume ever since! I started teaching early childhood literacy and a colleague and I gave many talks on working with same sex parents (the first at some of the conferences we were at) and we focused on early childhood classrooms.

After seeing the film I started collecting the “gay friendly” picture books for young children and continue to give many talks on them. Unfortunately we have to have them on reserve as they have been mis-shelved and lost in library limbo land. Recently I gave the library two books that I had several copies of to try to put with the regular collection.

In the last two years I have been surprised by the reluctance of many of the teacher candidates to want to use these books with children. I do a survey of them to find out what books of this type they know and I usually get none or “Heather Has Two Mommies”! In the past most have been more eager to use these books. I find that even many of my gay, lesbian, and transgender friends don’t know about them! When I give talks on them at True Colors and other GLBT-related conferences, people are so surprised that there are “so many” – just over 100 now!

We were in Maine without the telly when all this happened in New York. Luckily we had internet and my family was rejoicing with me when the vote finally came and it was positive. I’m sure your film helped to make a positive impact either on this vote or the way in which it was received.

So thank you so much for working on It’s Elementary and the update. Your film made a big impact on my life and my work after seeing the first version. If more teachers and parents would use these books and discussions perhaps we could stop the bullying before the children are six or seven or eight!

]]> By: Trish http://groundspark.org/5299/comment-page-1#comment-5858 Trish Mon, 04 Jul 2011 14:00:21 +0000 http://groundspark.org/?p=5299#comment-5858 This email comes on the end of the Pride celebration weekend in Toronto, On, where i proudly participated in the Family Pride events. I want to say that i use the It's elementary Video weekly when working with students, parents, ECE's and staff in FAmily Support Programs... we work from an inclusion perspective and this video nails it.....social justice values are incredibly important, especially when working with young children and families... if kids and their caregivers can see another perspective, even for a minute or two, we have impacted their whole lives...i am so grateful that this video is entirely applicable today.. and could not do my community work in family support so effectively without it.....thank you so much... This email comes on the end of the Pride celebration weekend in Toronto, On, where i proudly participated in the Family Pride events. I want to say that i use the It’s elementary Video weekly when working with students, parents, ECE’s and staff in FAmily Support Programs… we work from an inclusion perspective and this video nails it…..social justice values are incredibly important, especially when working with young children and families… if kids and their caregivers can see another perspective, even for a minute or two, we have impacted their whole lives…i am so grateful that this video is entirely applicable today.. and could not do my community work in family support so effectively without it…..thank you so much…

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