Eeew, cooties! Cootie Shots, a play about tolerance, has kicked up a ruckus in public schools in Northern California. (media).

Cooties--those imaginary bugs that infest icky people--normally don't survive grammar school. But suddenly they're all the rage in Novato, Calif., where controversy has erupted around Cootie Shots: Theatrical Inoculations Against Bigotry for Kids, Parents and Teachers. A play designed to discourage all kinds of prejudice, including homophobia, Cootie Shots has been performed in schools throughout California and has now been published in book form.

For some adults, though, Cootie Shots' message of tolerance masks a worrisome political agenda, and one group is looking to prove it in court. Backed by the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative Christian-oriented legal defense organization, eight parents are suing California's Novato Unified School District for allowing selections from Cootie Shots to be performed without their prior consent--allegedly in violation of "opt-out" forms the parents had signed to excuse their children from exposure to any material "dealing with sex, morality, or religion," says institute president Brad Dacus.

"One of the lines in one of the skits is `I'm gay and that's OK,' and that may be true," Dacus tells The Advocate. "[But that] isn't just tolerance; it's also a statement of social value and acceptance. Whenever you have a presentation that crosses that line, you're going to have parents who disagree with it."

Norma Bowles, the editor of the Cootie Shots book (Theatre Communications Group, $18.95) and the driving force behind the original play, couldn't disagree more. Bowles declines to discuss Dacus's comments or the institute but reiterates her statement responding to the lawsuit: "There is nothing in Cootie Shots to which any fair-minded, well-informed person would object. The central message of the book [is] that every man, woman, and child deserves to be treated with respect and dignity."

Cootie Shots--a selection of short plays, songs, and poems produced by Bowles's Fringe Benefits theater group--began touring California elementary schools in the late 1990s. As the troupe toured, Bowles remembers, "[people] were telling us, `Start earlier. Name-calling begins in grammar school.'

Bowles and company listened. "As people said this, we invited them to join with us to create the next play," she says. "In about 60 different workshops, we gathered parents, youth, educators, and theater artists, maybe 20 at a time. They shared stories of the ways that prejudice and discrimination had impacted their lives. Then we would act out these stories and transcribe them--what I would call having dramaturgical quilting bees."

Word spread, and soon big names--including Luis Alfaro, Kate Bornstein, John Fleck, and Tony Kushner--were clamoring to sign on. The book's 54 plays, poems, and songs range from the fanciful (a Rapunzel who runs off with a princess) to the factual (a play about Cesar Chavez, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, and Harvey Milk).

What began as a grassroots effort continues to gain momentum. "We've reached over 25,000 youth, parents, and educators, up and down California," says Bowles. Novato had turned to Cootie Shots after two hate-motivated incidents in the area in 1998. "The Novato Unified School District should be applauded, not sued, for taking efforts to assure that their campuses are and remain safe for all of the district's students," Bowles adds.

The Pacific Justice Institute advocates a different approach. "They can accomplish the same goal without the phrase `I'm gay and that's OK,'" says Dacus, who insists homosexuality is not the issue. "They can teach children not to call each other names without [mentioning] controversial social judgments and social values. Let's say that there was a skit that says `Homosexuality is bad, and everyone should be in heterosexual, monogamous marriages.' That statement would also require the same parental consent. We hope that many in the gay community will unite with us."

Bowles took Cootie Shots to New York in January. To reach new audiences, the dedicated cast reunites frequently. And Cootie Shots' publisher stands so firmly behind the book that it printed 10,000 copies instead of the usual 3,000. In a statement responding to the institute's lawsuit, Theatre Communications executive director Ben Cameron says the play's "message of tolerance and inclusion is in keeping with our own core value of diversity."

Just like cooties, that core value is contagious, says Bowles. She recalls a parent who opposed Cootie Shots. "[She] was telling other parents, `Keep your children home.' But she came to see the show, and afterward she apologized to everybody and bought a book on tolerance fox the school library. I think that is so cool!"

Habib wrote about Tseng Kwong Chi in The Advocate's April 2 issue.