Victim of Culture

When a film is not safe for show and tell—no Milk for sixth graders

Okay, so there are probably lots of films that aren’t okay for elementary school show and tell.  Kids probably shouldn’t be describing scenes from Saw, Silence of the Lambs, or True Romance.  But what other content might be unacceptable?  How about a film about a gay rights activist?

One San Diego school finds itself in the crosshairs of a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) after the way it reacted to one little girl’s show and tell project.  A sixth grader, Natalie Jones, apparently wanted to talk about the film Milk as her show and tell project.  Milk tells the story of slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay politicians in the US.

So, what exactly did the school do?  They did not allow the girl to present in class, and they required students to get a signed permission slip to attend her presentation during a lunch period.  Again, this is the girl’s presentation and not an actual screening of the film.  Most people could understand not showing sixth graders an R-rated film.

The question then becomes did they ban the presentation simply because it was about a gay man?  Was her presentation going to go into explicit detail of his sexual history?  Otherwise, wouldn’t recounting his political history and death be similar to recounting that of Martin Luther King, Jr. or Abraham Lincoln?  Whether you’re a supporter of gay rights or not, Harvey Milk is a historical figure.  Your personal belief in his significance may vary, but a simple report seems of little harm.

Of course, what we don’t know is the exact content of her report.  Assuming this was created by a sixth grader and not by her parents, one assumes it was fairly innocuous.  The ACLU might at times overstep itself, but in this case it seems on the right side.

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