Last night, the WOW film, Gay Republicans, screened at the ArcLight during the AFI Film Festival. Writer-director Wash Westmoreland’s doc delves into the history of the Log Cabin Republicans and follows four of its key players during infighting on the topics of gay marriage and party loyalty as they try to come to an agreement on Decision 2004. It’s lively and entertaining, rife with intrigue and compelling arguments, and the festival audience was audibly responsive – and v. verbal during the post-screening Q&A with the film’s subjects, WeHo activist Mark Harris; LA lawyer Carol Newman; former Arizona senator Stephen May; and head of the Palm Beach chapter of Log Cabin, Maurice Bonamigo.

If you want to be a star these days, forget Broadway or Hollywood – be the subject of a popular documentary. The protagonists of Gay Republicans, with their arch screen presence, are worthy candidates for stardom. Especially noteworthy is Maurice Bonamigo, who at the crowded party afterward at Schwab’s, was dressed impeccably in a white dinner jacket and whose Palm Beach bling put the relentlessly casual Angelenos to shame, though, of course, they weren’t the least bit shamed. Mark Harris showed up, as did Carol Newman and her wife, but the handsomer-than-a-hundred-movie-stars Steve May was nowhere to be seen. Though Bonamigo said at the Q&A that there was bonhomie between the Log Cabin stars, that may have been hot air from the former hairdresser.

Mark Harris and boyfriend Carlos

Maurice Bonamigo and WOW’s resident Republican Sandy Piha
Gay Republicans director Wash Westmoreland with Carol Newman (right) and wife Shirley Lee