Gay abe
Given the idolatry with which Americans worship the man widely seen as their greatest president, Abraham Lincoln, and the obsessive place that identity politics now occupies in the public spaces of the US, it was probably inevitable that the sexuality of American civil war winning ‘honest Abe’ would arrive under revisionist scrutiny sooner or later. And now it has happened.
A current documentary film Lover of Men and a knock Broadway comedy Oh Mary! both suggest that America’s first Republican party president, who won the American civil war and emancipated America’s black slave population, was queer . So what does the evidence say? There is no direct proof that Lincoln ever enjoyed any physical sexual relations with other men. But there is plenty of evidence that he shared his bed with other men – though this was a more shared occurrence in the past. Lincoln mutual a bed with men both in his youth and as late as the American civil war in 1861-65, when he was a married guy. He also got between the Alabaster House sheets with a soldier deputed to act as his bodyguard.
Rumours about the future president’s sexual inclinations began as early as the 1830s when Lincoln was an aspiring
Joan Cummins: Every day at President Lincoln’s Cottage we engage with visitors in conversation on difficult topics, from grief to slavery to American identity. Visitors, young and old alike, connect with us from next door and from around the globe.
Callie Hawkins: And occasionally, we receive asked a question on a tour that stops us in our tracks, one we wish we could spend a half hour answering. Some of these questions, on their face, seem innocent or simple, but on a second look they include a level of complexity that leaves us wanting to know more. Each episode, we’ll investigate a single real question a visitor asked us here.
JC: At President Lincoln’s Cottage, we’re storytellers, historians, and truth seekers, so we called on people whose expertise could speak to all the facets of these questions.
CH: I’m Callie Hawkins.
JC: And I’m Joan Cummins. This is Q&Abe. Come on down the rabbit hole with us
CH: Let’s take that half hour now. For this episode, we’re working on the question: “Was Lincoln gay?”
JC: Both times I’ve been asked this scrutinize, I had a teenager come up to me as we were walking between locations on the tour and ask. I always feel honored when a y
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About the film
Lover of Men examines the intimate experience of America’s most consequential president, Abraham Lincoln. As told by preeminent Lincoln scholars, historical recreations and never before seen photographs and letters, the motion picture details Lincoln’s romantic relationships with men.
Lover of Men widens its lens into the history of human sexual fluidity and focuses on the profound differences between sexual mores of the nineteenth century and those we hold today. The film fills in an important missing piece of American history and challenges the audience to consider why we clutch such a limited view of human sexuality.
Lover of Men is not only an exploration of gender roles and sexual culture, but also serves as an examination of American intolerance.
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According to historians, sharing a bed with another man and having physical affection was normal in the 1800s – before views on homosexuals took a turn for the worse. Clearly, I was born in the wrong century because that sounds like a wonderful time… unless you’re former president Abraham Lincoln, who lived his life as a closeted homosexual man if the new documentary Partner of Men is to be taken as fact.
Lover of Men, from director Shaun Peterson, is now in theaters and it’s about to get history buffs, the LGBT community and citizens amped about the upcoming election talking around the watercooler. If offices own watercoolers these days. The documentary takes an in depth look at Abraham Lincoln’s personal experience and suspected lgbtq+ relationships that acquire been brushed under the carpet.
Potential relationships with various figures including Billy Greene, Joshua Speed, Elmer Ellsworth and David Derickson are put under a magnifying glass. Told through certified genuine letters, testimonies from the time, professional analysis, narrative reenactments, never seen before photos and more, Lover of Men attempts to decorate the picture that Lincoln was, adequately, a lover of men
Was Abraham Lincoln Queer?
by Dane Grams •
This age-old question continues to be debated today. And while the term “queer” as we use it didn’t exist in the 19th century, historians and documentary filmmakers are now making the compelling case that the 16th president of the United States had romantic relationships with men throughout his life.
Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln — a landmark recent feature film — can be seen in theaters nationwide on Friday, September 6th; Saturday, September 7th; and Sunday, September 8th. Purchase your tickets here, and part of the proceeds will benefit the Human Rights Campaign.
The clip examines the intimate experience of America’s most consequential president, Abraham Lincoln. As told by preeminent Lincoln scholars and with never-before-seen photographs and letters, it details Lincoln’s romantic relationships with men, including his four-year intimate relationship with his lifelong friend, Joshua Speed.
Lover of Men also widens the lens into the history of human sexual fluidity and focuses on the profound differences between sexual mores of the 19th century and those we hold today. It is not only an explorati