Downtown Church Hosts Love Rally During Sidewalk Fest

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Cinemaphiles attending the 19th Annual Sidewalk Film Festival got an extra dose of love on Saturday from one of event's host venues. After screening films about civil and human rights, First United Methodist Church members went outside with signs to spread some love to members of the LGBTQ community in the process.

"Plenty of churches say they’re open, but they’re really not," said Katie Gilbert, First Church's director of invitation and outreach. "They'll take LGBTQ people in, but end up being hurtful in the long run. With events like [the love rally], we’re being explicit in our belief that all are welcome."

Gilbert said the church was happy to link its rally to Sidewalk, which hosts a SHOUT series spotlighting LGBTQ films. First Church hosted similar love rallies earlier in the year, but decided to put on another in conjunction with the SHOUT festivities.

Though First Church hasn't always played host to the films, its location presents a prime halfway point between two of the festival's most trafficked venues, the Alabama Theater and the Alabama School of Fine Arts.

"Sidewalk has gotten a lot of feedback that those two places were just too far apart, so they asked us last year to host some films and the volunteer headquarters and be the buffer on that long walk, and we were elated to say yes," Gilbert said.

To that end, the rally volunteers also handed out water bottles to tired festivalgoers making their way between venues. Gilbert estimates that participants gave out nearly 200 water bottles in a little over an hour.

"It was a great event to go along with Sidewalk, which is a great event for the city," Gilbert said. "We were really excited to get to serve our church's mission statement with a festival that is working to revitalize the area of downtown we're in."

Photo Courtesy of First United Methodist Church