PBS film looks at gay kids

LOS ANGELES -- In this summer of lighthearted gay-themed programming, a new PBS documentary is a reminder of how disconnected glossy TV images can be from real life.\n"Family Fundamentals," from filmmaker Arthur Dong, is an intimate look at homosexual children and their devout parents. It debuted yesterday.\nDong's film records the heartache of people trying to reconcile their love and their beliefs, and touches on the ripple effect of such discord beyond family circles.\n"The Bible is, and says, that homosexuality is a sin, and it's wrong," one mother says in the film. "It's a destructive behavior and will not bring happiness. ... You can't argue with that. It just is the way it is."\n"It's really hard to change their point of view. Almost as hard as changing my point of view," says a gay son.\nDong wanted to reach across the gulf with a project that would respect and speak to both sides, he said in an interview. The filmmaking process itself revealed how difficult his task was.\nDong, who is gay, said he was able to foster a valuable working relationship with a then-official of the National Association of Evangelicals who served as one of the film's key advisers.\n"In our first conversation, he asked if I was gay. He said, 'You know, I think homosexuality is immoral.' I said, 'I expected you to think that. But we're still talking and still discussing the possibility of working together to create a film that people from your organization and the gay community can watch together without being antagonized.'"\nThe film reels off several examples of prominent conservatives who have homosexual children, including the late Congressman Sonny Bono, father (with Cher) of Chastity, a gay rights activist; Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter Mary is a lesbian; and conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, with a gay son.\nDong was particularly interested in the intersection of the personal and the political. He cites the example of California state Sen. Pete Knight, a Republican who sponsored Proposition 22 -- a successful 2000 measure to strengthen the state's ban on gay marriage. Knight has a gay son and a brother who died of AIDS.\n"I found that such a strange paradox," Dong said. "What must Thanksgiving dinner be like for this family? ... I really saw these families as a microcosm for the larger questions and larger debates in the public sphere"