Members of the community assembled at The First Congregational Church on Monday, Oct. 18, to watch and discuss It's Elementary, a documentary about how schools should incorporate anti-gay bullying curriculum into grade school classrooms.

The audience, roughly 75 teachers, parents, Alameda Community Alliance Resource for Education (C.A.R.E.) Steering Committee members, Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) board members and families, appeared to be mostly in support of the curriculum.

The screening is part of a film series hosted by C.A.R.E. to educate the community about teaching age-appropriate information to combat anti-gay prejudice in schools.

"It's so important that we're reaching out and connecting with the community and youth and taking the opportunity to let children know that adults care," said Sean Cahill, co-chair of C.A.R.E.

C.A.R.E. is hosting the series in light of the six recent suicides of young people across the country who were tormented for being gay.

"We've all had our hearts broken as we lost another six lives. My first thought was what can we do, how in Alameda can we save lives?" said the Rev. Laura Rose of The First Congregational Church.

It's Elementary was released in 1996 by GroundSpark, a non-profit company that produces film aimed at creating social change. According to GroundSpark representative Amy Scharf, It's Elementary was filmed in a time when there was not a lot of information about the LGBTQ community and the topic itself was taboo.  

"There are always age-appropriate ways to talk about the LGBTQ company… it's not always about sex," Scharf said.

The film urges educators and teachers to address gay issues in classrooms with young students in order to open the conversation among children.

Educators in the film dealt with negative feedback from many parents that were opposed to the idea. One student said that her family claimed that her school was "too liberal and shouldn't be teaching that in school."

Assistant superintendent of the AUSD, Sean McPhetridge, stressed the importance of honor, love, community, charity and family.

"As a professional, I think it is important that we educate our students so that they feel safe and secure and have a place of honor and love," McPhetridge said.

Several people at the screening expressed concern that Lesson 9, the controversial lesson passed that last year regarding educating students about same-sex families, was not getting implemented quickly enough.

One parent was distraught and said that "this district seems to not addreess the underlying [cause] which is discrimination." The parent felt the curriculum was not enough to "make this go away."

"It is our hope that this is not just a discussion but that we save lives,"Rev. Rose said.

The next film in the series, Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case That Made History, will be shown on Oct. 25 at 7 pm.

C.A.R.E. is a grassroots organization that was formed a year and half ago to foster a safe and welcoming environment for all students in AUSD by supporting children of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) families and students.