The City of Fort Worth will show The Freedom to Marry, a same-sex marriage documentary, on June 6 at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
“This is the epic, untold story of how same-sex marriage became law of the land. Documenting one of the greatest civil rights stories of our time, The Freedom to Marry is a nail-biting, behind-the-scenes story that traces the marriage equality movement’s historic progress and reveals the masterminds of the movement as they lead the fight to win same-sex marriage throughout the United States. This is an inspirational tale of how people can actually make a difference and ultimately, a powerful playbook for social change,” reads the city’s website.
Evan Wolfson, who is featured in the film, was dubbed by Newsweek as “the godfather of gay marriage.” He is the founder of the Freedom to Marry campaign that brought the issue of gay marriage to the national stage in 2015.
Fort Worth’s free bi-monthly film series called “Movies that Matter” is a program of the Fort Worth Human Relations Commission and is managed by the Diversity & Inclusion Department.
Past films that the program has shown include Who We Are – A Chronicle of Racism in America, created by Jeffery Robinson. Robinson is the founder of The Who We Are Project, a nonprofit that aims to “expose the role of anti-Black racism and white supremacy throughout history up to the present.”
The film “shows us how legalized discrimination and state-sanctioned brutality, murder, dispossession, and disenfranchisement continued long after slavery ended, profoundly impeding Black Americans’ ability to create and accumulate wealth as well as to gain access to jobs, housing, education, and health care.”
Another film included in the series was A Decent Home, which examines issues of “class and economic inequity.”
“… A Decent Home is the first documentary to focus on mobile home parks and the injustices faced by park residents. Our engagement campaign uses the film as a tool to help drive awareness and action in support of manufactured housing owner rights. It centers affordable housing in a broad public forum for debate, discussion and advocacy,” explains the film’s website.
Other upcoming films that will be shown include The Real Cost about how student loan debt is “affecting minorities and only expanding the racial gap even wider.”
An unaffiliated Movies That Matter organization explains that movies and documentaries that tackle social issues are valuable tools to help facilitate human compassion and understanding:
“Our vision is that film as an art form is an exceptionally strong medium. Where words and writing sometimes fail to really touch people, cinema can break through indifference or cynicism. It is precisely this capacity that makes film the ideal means of involving people in the fight for human rights and a sustainable society. We generate impact by holding up a mirror, providing insight and asking questions. However, we never see film as a conclusive plea, but as the starting point for a process of opinion forming. We do this at home and abroad with films from home and abroad.”
But some local leaders disapprove of Fort Worth’s foray into divisive territory with its Movies that Matter program and Diversity & Inclusion Department.
“It’s extremely inappropriate for the City of Fort Worth to promote CRT and LGBTQ films. Taxpayer resources shouldn’t be wasted on these programs,” Texas Coalition for Kids Director Kelly Neidert told DX.
Citizens Defending Freedom Tarrant County director Rosalie Escobedo slammed the city’s movie program.
“I find it telling that Fort Worth promotes pro-CRT and pro-LGBTQ films, especially after canceling an event … featuring detransitioner Abel Garcia. It appears that freedom of speech is only afforded to those that advance certain narratives,” Escobedo told DX.
“Do you remember the ‘Movies that Matter’ program run by the city that shows films advocating radical gender ideology, and encourages City employees to become ‘Diversity Champions?’ You can thank [Assistant DEI Director Angela] Rush for that – she helped develop it!” Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Bo French stated on Facebook.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the City of Fort Worth is looking for “Diversity Matters Champions” for its “Celebrate Diversity” initiative, which is led by the Diversity & Equity Employee Committee.
A Celebrate Diversity flyer encourages employees to attend at least five of six “cultural awareness programs,” either in person or online, to “become a Diversity Matters Champion.”
DX contacted the City of Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Modern Museum for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
