Abraham Lincoln’s sex life, including theories that he had gay relationships with men, will be explored in a new documentary.
Scholarly discussion of the legendary 16th president’s sexuality has existed for decades, mostly based on letters he wrote to close males friends.
Opinions range from him being a closeted homosexual to merely experimenting with his sexuality while being primarily straight.
Lover of Men, screening in some cinemas on September 6, ‘examines the intimate life of America’s most consequential president’, its websites explains.
Abraham Lincoln’s sex life, including theories that he had gay relationships with men, will be explored in a new documentary
Lincoln was married to Mary Todd and and four children
A trailer released this week gives snippets of its interviews with more than a dozen Lincoln scholars and historians discussing the evidence.
Actors were also shown portraying intimate scenes between Lincoln and male figures in his life, including holding hands and cuddling in bed.
Central to the evidence of Lincoln’s queer identity are letters he wrote to alleged male lovers, and others by people gossiping about him.
‘Dear speed, I shall be very lonesome without you, love Lincoln,’ one read out in the trailers concludes, referring to Joshua Fry Speed.
Speed was Lincoln’s most oft-cited potential gay partner as the pair had a close friendship that lasted from their youth until Lincoln’s assassination.
Another man, also referenced in the trailer, was army captain and Lincoln’s bodyguard David Derickson, who was the subject of gossip.
Actors were also shown portraying intimate scenes between Lincoln and male figures in his life, including holding hands and cuddling in bed
Elizabeth Woodbury Fox, the wife of Lincoln’s naval aide, wrote in her diary for November 16, 1862, about a rumor she heard about them.
‘Tish says, ‘Oh, there is a Bucktail soldier here devoted to the president, drives with him, and when Mrs L is not home, sleeps with him.’ What stuff!’ she wrote.
However, most historians believe this entry was misinterpreted, as ‘what stuff!’ at the time was used to mean the gossip was absurd (in line with the phrase ‘stuff and nonsense’), rather than credibly scandalous.
The trailer also explained how sexuality in the 19th Century was far more fluid than today, which is a point for and against Lincoln being queer.
‘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 synopsis read.
‘The film fills in an important missing piece of American history and challenges the audience to consider why we hold such a limited view of human sexuality.’
Joshua Fry Speed was Lincoln’s most oft-cited potential gay partner as the pair had a close friendship that lasted from their youth until Lincoln’s assassination
Speed with his wife Lucy Gilmer Fry in 1887
Other aspects of the debate about Lincoln’s sexuality note that he slept in beds with at least 11 other men and boys in his youth and adulthood.
This was common for the time, especially when traveling, as bedroom space was at a premium, and it lacked the sexual connotations of today.
Lincoln began sleeping with Speed when he moved to Springfield, Illinois, in 1837 and was unable to afford his own bed and bedding.
However, they continued this sleeping arrangement for four years while he was a successful lawyer and member of the Illinois House of Representatives.
Historians noted Speed and Lincoln never denied sharing a bed, and Speed’s offer to the broke Lincoln was spoken about as being casual and uncontroversial.
Additionally, none of Lincoln’s many political enemies ever tried to smear him as a homosexual.
Speed and Lincoln had opposing views on slavery, but remained close over their lives and he even appointed Speed’s brother James as his attorney-general.
Another man, also referenced in the trailer, was army captain and Lincoln’s bodyguard David Derickson, who was the subject of gossip
Derickson as portrayed by an actor in the documentary
Elizabeth Woodbury Fox, the wife of Lincoln’s naval aide, wrote in her diary for November 16, 1862, about a rumor she heard about them
Lincoln also often slept in the same bed as other lawyers, as was common in the traveling ‘circuits’ of the time where up to 20 would sleep in the same room.
Such sleeping arrangements also weren’t considered sexual because with other people sharing other beds in the room, they were never alone.
‘Their intimacy is more an index to an era when close male friendships, accompanied by open expressions of affection and passion, were familiar and socially acceptable,’ Doris Kearns Goodwin argued against a queer Lincoln in her biography.
‘Nor can sharing a bed be considered evidence of an erotic involvement. It was common practice in an era when private quarters were a rare luxury….
‘The attorneys of the Eighth Circuit in Illinois where Lincoln would travel regularly shared beds.’
However, Jonathan Katz wrote in his book about Lincoln’s sexuality that sharing a bed ‘did provide an important site (probably the major site) of erotic opportunity’ if they could prevent anyone else nearby from noticing.
Historians wrote that Lincoln and Todd’s relationship was ‘bound together by three strong bonds -sex, parenting and politics’ and they had an active sex life
They had four children, Robert in 1843, Eddie in 1846, Willie in 1850, and Tad in 1853
Katz wrote that unlike today’s more well-defined sexualities, people in past centuries ‘continually reconfigure their affectionate and erotic feelings and acts’.
Lincoln was conversely known for his relationships with women, first with Ann Rutledge, whose death in 1835 ‘plunged him into severe depression’.
After spurning his fiancée Mary Owens because ‘I knew she was oversize, but now she appeared a fair match for Falstaff’, he married Mary Todd.
Lincoln had earlier also called off his engagement to Todd in 1941 during a deep depression that coincided with major political setbacks, Speed moving away from Springfield, and a split from his law partner.
They later reconciled and had four children, Robert in 1843, Eddie in 1846, Willie in 1850, and Tad in 1853.
Historians wrote that their relationship was ‘bound together by three strong bonds -sex, parenting and politics’ and they had an active sex life.
Todd’s biographer Jean Baker wrote that ‘most observers of the Lincoln marriage have been impressed with their sexuality’.
A trailer released this week gives snippets of its interviews with more than a dozen Lincoln scholars and historians discussing the evidence
Lover of Men also sought to comment on modern American views on sexuality, and how they differed from Lincoln’s time, as an ‘examination of American intolerance’.
It argued that attitudes shifted in the late 19th Century and famous psychologist Sigmund Freud’s work imposed more rigid sexual categories,
This environment led to homosexuality being called a mental disorder and becoming punishable by law.
‘If Lincoln were to look down today he would see the US at a particularly fragile moment,’ one expert said in the trailer.
‘Lincoln’s legacy is the insistence on equality… if you can accept a queer Lincoln, you can accept queer people overall.’