In celebration of Martin Luther King Day, the Montana Human Rights Network and allied community groups will host a free screening of the documentary From Selma to Stonewall: Are We There Yet? The film explores the similarities and differences between the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement and efforts for LGBTQ equality. Marilyn Bennett, the film’s director, will attend, talk about the film, and help lead a discussion after it is shown.

Promotional materials for From Selma to Stonewall describe it as following a “black, straight preacher and a white, lesbian activist” as they seek to find the intersection between the Civil Rights and LGBTQ equality movements, both in the past and present. The primary people featured in the documentary are Bennett and Reverend Gil Caldwell. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like they would have much in common. Bennett is a 57-year-old white lesbian who is an author, activist, and national organizer. A retired United Methodist pastor, Caldwell is 85 years old, straight, and an African-American who served as a foot soldier and colleague of Dr. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights Movement.

Bennett and Caldwell met while working to change the anti-LGBTQ policies of the United Methodist Church at the denomination’s 2000 General Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. As their unique friendship grew, they forged a commitment to finding ways to build bridges across the divide of their different communities and experiences.

From Selma to Stonewall: Are We There Yet? follows Bennett and Caldwell as they explore the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of Caldwell, including a return trip to Alabama where Caldwell participated in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery with Dr. King. The pair also visited New York City’s Stonewall Inn to reconstruct the first night of the Stonewall Uprising, which is often considered the beginning of the LGBTQ Equality Movement.

Throughout the film, the role of religion varies for each of the two movements, and the documentary does not shy away from the differences. The film also examines how the two movements have often been pitted against each other, and how that results in the further marginalization of black members of the LGBTQ community who live at the intersection of the two movements. On a hopeful note, the documentary relays stories of people of color in the LGBTQ community who are seeking to change that dynamic and offering hope for the future.

Following the showing of From Selma to Stonewall, Bennett and local United Methodist Reverend Melissa Engel will lead a discussion and a question-and-answer session.

This event is sponsored by the Montana Human Rights Network, Butte Public Library, Rainbow Community Center, and the Montana Interfaith Network.