flicks

The Awesome Anti-Gay Bullying Film Every British Student Will See. And That America Should Netflix

Think GLSEN’s involvement in America’s schools — which includes today’s kick-off of No Name-Calling Week — is a representation of evil homosexual activists taking over the minds of this nation’s children? Then you’d be frightened to learn what’s going on in Britain: junior high schools are getting a DVD that addresses anti-gay bullying!

Stonewall, the British advocacy group, says it’s shipping DVD copies of its feature film FIT, based on Stonewall’s play of the same name, to every secondary school in the country. And just what sort of pornographic propaganda should parents expect? Besides what we can tell from the trailer above, which makes it sound like a half million Brits are just going to scream one word aloud in a High School Musical remake?

The storyline uses hip-hop, humour, colourful adidas tracksuits and lively writing similar to Channel 4’s Skins to communicate with pupils in a way that makes it easy for them to engage with the issues raised.

The interactive DVD has been devised to tackle homophobic bullying and encourage pupils to challenge their widespread use of the word ‘gay’ to mean anything rubbish or inadequate. It gives further support to teachers who have recently reported being extremely under-resourced in tackling homophobic bullying in their schools.

But be forewarned: Its backers are already inserting homosexual verbiage into the lexicon! You’re going to plug what?

Chris Gibbons, Stonewall’s senior education officer, said that there had been “overwhelming positive response” to FIT as a touring play – from pupils and teachers alike.

“[It] convinced us that a feature film would help every secondary school in Britain to challenge homophobic bullying. Teachers are still ill-equipped and unsure of how to deal with gay issues in their classrooms. Stonewall’s film for schools will help plug this gap.”

And it’s already working miracles.

Navdeep, a year 8 pupil at a south London school, said: “After watching FIT, we realised it was wrong to use the word gay as a cuss word. You shouldn’t outcast your friend if they’re gay.”

And we won’t rest until there’s an iPhone-friendly version available on iTunes.

(NB: But on a serious note? This looks great. It’s got the storylines, sex appeal, and acting chops to actually hold teenagers’ attention. Send copies to the U.S. We’ll even pay the tarriff.)

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