When one first hears of the Log Cabin Republicans the immediate thought is, "What the hell is wrong with those people?" There is of course nothing homogeneous about the homosexual community but it seems at first to be a rather large conflict of existence to be both gay and Republican. Wash Westmoreland begins his documentary Gay Republicans by filming each of a group of interviewees saying the word "oxymoron". What this remarkable film shows is that "Gay Republican" is hardly a paradox of two words. Nor is there any reasonable generalization that one could make about them. Westmoreland gathers a group of people united under the banner of the Log Cabin Republicans and lets them illustrate what they share and where they differ.
There are several excellent subjects and a couple of them are puzzling individuals. Mark Harris is a grassroots Republican activist who he says, "happens to be gay." His faith in the party supersedes any problems he might have with what the Republican leadership does in relation to gay rights. In what might be the most depressing moment of the film Harris talks about the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA). "Now is not that right time for gay marriage," he says. He, along with Maurice Bonamigo, represents the segment of the LCR that will stand with the party come hell or high water. These two are what most people would think of when they think of gay Republicans. They are Republicans, not gay Republicans. If the film is accurate they don't appear to be conservatives either, at least not by the traditional Jeffersonian definition. The Log Cabin Republicans, named after Lincoln, are mostly an example of the difference between "conservative" and "Republican". While many are both, there are a great many Republicans are not conservative by any reasonable definition. They are better called the Christian Right. Theirs is a theocentric ideology espousing a Big Government of a different type acting as a morality police force. With so dominant a presence in the Republican party and so clear a position against equal rights for homosexuals what are folks like Harris and Bonamigo to do? Stand by your man apparently. Harris even states that homosexuals might one day thank Bush for helping bring the discussion of gay marriage into the spotlight. Ignoring that equal rights activists have been building a movement for gay marriage since around 1972, would Rodney King thank the LAPD for helping shine a light on the crime of police brutality? A notable achievement of Gay Republicans is that Westmoreland allows Harris and Bonamigo space to make their cases without dismissing them or labeling with a terrible term that rhymes with "elf baiting." They stand, or fall, on their own merits.
They are contrasted nicely with a group that is more representative of the LCR, conservative gays. When Barry Goldwater piped up about gays in the military he famously said, "You don't have to be straight, you just have to shoot straight." For conservatives like Goldwater homosexuality is a non-issue. It has nothing to do with state's rights, fiscal responsibility or any of the other issues that Republicans used to talk about. Former Arizona state legislator Steve May and corporate lawyer Carol Newman are much more a part of this sect. May was first a name during the Clinton administration when he was a victim of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. Newman became politically active as a libertarian but opted to join the Republican Party instead. Both have a huge problem with the Christian right and what they see as the hijacking of the Republican Party. They supported Bush in 2000 when he extended somewhat of an olive branch to the homosexual community but felt totally abandoned after Bush declared his steadfast support for the FMA. They struggle with trying to reconcile their conservative beliefs with Bush's proposal of "institutionalized discrimination."
These two polar viewpoints are filmed in public and private in the period leading up to a decision on whether or not the LCR will endorse Bush for reelection in 2004. Westmoreland has collected an impressive array of participants and scenes including gay Democrats talking about gay Republicans, Christian extremists talking about homosexuals, whether Republican or not, and a few different people talking about how rare Republican lesbians are. Good pacing and healthy doses of humor, as when Bonamigo criticizes the fashion of the Carter and Clinton administrations, help illuminate a group of people that are often not accepted by either the homosexual or Republican communities. When talking about his resentment of being forced to choose between leaving the party or supporting a candidate that does not accept him, May paraphrases Ronald Reagan to great effect in explaining the dilemma that gay Republicans face, "I did not leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me."
There are several excellent subjects and a couple of them are puzzling individuals. Mark Harris is a grassroots Republican activist who he says, "happens to be gay." His faith in the party supersedes any problems he might have with what the Republican leadership does in relation to gay rights. In what might be the most depressing moment of the film Harris talks about the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA). "Now is not that right time for gay marriage," he says. He, along with Maurice Bonamigo, represents the segment of the LCR that will stand with the party come hell or high water. These two are what most people would think of when they think of gay Republicans. They are Republicans, not gay Republicans. If the film is accurate they don't appear to be conservatives either, at least not by the traditional Jeffersonian definition. The Log Cabin Republicans, named after Lincoln, are mostly an example of the difference between "conservative" and "Republican". While many are both, there are a great many Republicans are not conservative by any reasonable definition. They are better called the Christian Right. Theirs is a theocentric ideology espousing a Big Government of a different type acting as a morality police force. With so dominant a presence in the Republican party and so clear a position against equal rights for homosexuals what are folks like Harris and Bonamigo to do? Stand by your man apparently. Harris even states that homosexuals might one day thank Bush for helping bring the discussion of gay marriage into the spotlight. Ignoring that equal rights activists have been building a movement for gay marriage since around 1972, would Rodney King thank the LAPD for helping shine a light on the crime of police brutality? A notable achievement of Gay Republicans is that Westmoreland allows Harris and Bonamigo space to make their cases without dismissing them or labeling with a terrible term that rhymes with "elf baiting." They stand, or fall, on their own merits.
They are contrasted nicely with a group that is more representative of the LCR, conservative gays. When Barry Goldwater piped up about gays in the military he famously said, "You don't have to be straight, you just have to shoot straight." For conservatives like Goldwater homosexuality is a non-issue. It has nothing to do with state's rights, fiscal responsibility or any of the other issues that Republicans used to talk about. Former Arizona state legislator Steve May and corporate lawyer Carol Newman are much more a part of this sect. May was first a name during the Clinton administration when he was a victim of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. Newman became politically active as a libertarian but opted to join the Republican Party instead. Both have a huge problem with the Christian right and what they see as the hijacking of the Republican Party. They supported Bush in 2000 when he extended somewhat of an olive branch to the homosexual community but felt totally abandoned after Bush declared his steadfast support for the FMA. They struggle with trying to reconcile their conservative beliefs with Bush's proposal of "institutionalized discrimination."
These two polar viewpoints are filmed in public and private in the period leading up to a decision on whether or not the LCR will endorse Bush for reelection in 2004. Westmoreland has collected an impressive array of participants and scenes including gay Democrats talking about gay Republicans, Christian extremists talking about homosexuals, whether Republican or not, and a few different people talking about how rare Republican lesbians are. Good pacing and healthy doses of humor, as when Bonamigo criticizes the fashion of the Carter and Clinton administrations, help illuminate a group of people that are often not accepted by either the homosexual or Republican communities. When talking about his resentment of being forced to choose between leaving the party or supporting a candidate that does not accept him, May paraphrases Ronald Reagan to great effect in explaining the dilemma that gay Republicans face, "I did not leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me."