Former president Barack Obama wants to see the memory of Bayard Rustin — a gay civil rights leader from West Chester who was instrumental in organizing the March on Washington — restored, writes Martha Teichner for CBS News.

Rustin, who was a pacifist, convinced Martin Luther King Jr. to embrace non-violence as a tactic. He was also a brilliant strategist who organized the 1963 March.

However, due to his homosexuality, he was at one point fired by King and his contributions to the civil movement were mostly ignored.

Rustin, a new movie directed by George C. Wolfe, is hoping to change that. It will hit theaters this week and be available on Netflix on Nov. 17. The movie’s producer is Higher Ground, a production company formed by Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama.

“What I thought was important – and Michelle and I, you know, it’s the reason that we were interested in this story – was this reminds us that the fight for justice is typically not just about one group of people or another group of people,” said Obama. “It’s often in tandem. We have to figure out how do we lift up all people?”

Read more about Barack Obama working to uplift Bayard Rustin’s memory in CBS News.

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