LEWES — The ACLU of Delaware and Delaware Humanities hosted the first of a series of two free screenings of the acclaimed documentary, From Selma to Stonewall: Are We There Yet?, this weekend at the Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware in Lewes. The event, which offered continuing legal education (CLE) credit for attorneys, was organized in conjunction with community partners from across the state, and featured a 60-minute screening followed by facilitated discussions on the continued fight for queer and racial justice in Delaware and nationwide.
Featuring Rev. Gil Caldwell, a Black, straight preacher and Civil Rights Movement foot soldier, and Marilyn Bennett, a white, lesbian author and activist, From Selma to Stonewall details the pair’s unusual bond as they seek to find the intersection between the Civil Rights and LGBTQ+ Equality movements. The film explores the similarities, differences, and conflicts between the movements in the midst of struggles against hate crimes, anti-blackness, police brutality, anti-LGBTQ+ religious hostility, queer youth homelessness, and white supremacy.
In the last few years, a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced across the country, many of which disproportionately target and criminalize communities of color. “Deep-seated systemic racism and inequities are still woven into the fabric of institutions today,” said Don Peterson of Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware, “Queer liberation cannot exist while LGBTQ+ people of color continue to face oppression.” During the facilitated discussions, attendees grappled with questions about intersectionality and erasure, and unpacked conditions and structures that perpetuate oppression and injustice today.
Dwayne Bensing, Legal Director at ACLU-DE and President of Delaware Stonewall PAC, led a discussion group focused on how the legal community can help move the needle when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights and racial justice movements. “The courts have always played a pivotal role in advancing — or impeding — social justice movements,” Bensing said, “It is absolutely critical for the legal community to have these conversations. As lawyers, we have a responsibility to ensure people know their rights, and to challenge discrimination of any form whether it be in education, housing, policing or any other area.” From recent efforts to censor classroom conversations on race to ongoing attacks on the right to gender affirming care, the courts have been, and continue to be, at the center of the fight for equality.
The event was attended by nearly 100 individuals. “The only way that we can fight discrimination, whether it's homophobia or racism, is to support each other and respect each other enough to have the tough conversations,” one attendee expressed during the facilated group discussions, “I really do believe, as the film noted, that it's at this intersection that we're going to find a new way forward.”
The second and final screening of From Selma to Stonewall will be held on Sunday, June 11 at 3 p.m. at the First Unitarian Church in Wilmington. Admission is free and open to the public. Attorneys who attend are eligible for one hour of CLE credit with a paid CLE specific ticket.
Attendees are encouraged to register in advance at aclu-de.org/selma-to-stonewall.
Learn more about the film at fromselmatostonewall.com.
Register for the wilmington screening
Partners include:
- First Unitarian Universalists Human Rights Task force
- First Unitarian Church of Wilmington
- Camp Rehoboth
- Delaware Civil and Human Rights Commission
- Delaware Historical Society
- Delaware Humanities
- Delaware Pride
- DSBA LBGTQ section
- DSBA multicultural section
- Intersections of Pride
- Mitchell Center for African American Heritage
- NAACP of Delaware
- PFLAG Middletown
- PFLAG Wilmington
- PTK Delaware
- Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice
- Stonewall PAC
- Sussex Pride
- Unitarian Universalists Delaware Advocacy Network
- Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware
- Women's March Sussex - Delaware
- YWCA
This program is partially funded by the Delaware Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
