Lincoln was gay ?

[jeff30997]

I'm watching The Simpsons Tree House of Horrors 19 and in the part where Homer gets

to heaven Lincoln grabs his ass and so on. Was Lincoln gay or am I missing something.

BTW I don't give a damn if he was gay or not.I'm just curious.So please don't flame me. :)

[Pierre.Suave]

1. you are considering something you saw on The Simpsons

as possibly having any basis in reality?

[crim son]

2. I don't know, but a biography I read said he was a serious

womanizer as a young man.

[Pierre.Suave]

3. I see

I am in good company then...

:P

[crim son]

14. As a potential president, a gay man

or a womanizer? :P

[Pierre.Suave]

22. A Potential President

and Womanizer...

:P

[crim son]

What, this showed up three times? Delete!

[crim son]

15. Dupe, delete.

[flvegan]

4. The Simpsons isn't known for its historical accuracy.

[GOPisEvil]

16. Now South Park is another story...

:yoiks:

[flvegan]

18. Well, yeah.

[Deja Q]

5. There has been speculation and innuendo from various sources over the decades,

but no bona fide factual data exists. Until then, or until Doctor Who gives us a first hand tour of America in 1864, such discussion remains speculation and innuendo.

[jeff30997]

10. Thanks for the info Hypnodude.

I love to learn and you gave me some infos instead of laughing at me.

[LeftyMom]

6. He had a male roommate for quite some time.

There's some speculation as to the nature of their relationship.

[jeff30997]

9. Thanks LeftyMom.

Thanks LeftyMom.You and Hypno are the only ones who gave me useful informations.

I truly appreciate it.

[trof]

17. I read he slept with a member of the secret service.

I also read that it was not uncommon for men to share a bed back then.
:shrug:

[skygazer]

7. There was a book postulating such a few years ago

It was based on a poor reading of history that put modern emphasis on 19th century practices (the fact that Lincoln shared a bed with his law partner - common in those times). I would have no problem accepting a gay Lincoln but I didn't feel the book came close to making a convincing argument.

Oh, and the Simpsons does not tend to be historically accurate.

[jeff30997]

12. I would have no problem accepting a gay Lincoln either skygazer.

Thanks for the infos,I think that the Simpsons writers were just using some kind of historical

rumor but it's the first time that I hear about it.

[sarcasmo]

8. He had a male friend for a couple of years. Let me find a link for you.

Joshua Speed



http://www.salon.com/books/it/1999/04/30/lincoln/

http://www.kylincoln.org/faqs.htm

[jeff30997]

13. Thanks for the links sarcasmo. n/t

[Roon]

11. That's why the log cabiners call themselves the log cabins

because Lincoln was born in a log cabin.

[rug]

19. That's what I call my jockeys.

[FloridaJudy]

21. I did not know this

My, but the Intertubes are educational!

I do know that sharing a bed with a same-sex friend was pretty common in the 19th Century. A sexual relationship was not necessarily implied - central heat was pretty rare then.

As I recall, Lincoln was also reputed to be fond of dirty jokes, but no one has ever come forth with an example

[trof]

20. The 'gay Lincoln myth':

The "Gay Lincoln Myth" is better-documented, having been the substance of a recent study by C. A. Tripp, The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln (2005). Lincoln spent a lot of time sleeping in the same beds as other men, at least by 21st-century heterosexual standards. He slept for several years with a young man named Joshua Speed (Charles Strozier, in Lincoln's Quest for Union <1982>, says that Lincoln agonized about leaving Speed to marry Mary Todd). Lincoln had what was at the very least a serious man-crush on the glamorous Elmer Ellsworth, who became the first Union officer killed in the Civil War. And late in the War, President Lincoln slept with one of his young bodyguards, a certain David Derickson.

Truly slept, mind you, is the most parsimonious explanation. There were simply fewer beds to go around in the 19th century, and no central heating, and utterly non-sexual couples routinely shared mattresses. There remains some doubt as to why the President of the United States would have to bunk with one of the guard, but even Derickson (whom Steers admits is the strongest candidate to be a gay lover of Lincoln) might just have been in need of some shut-eye, particularly because the sleepover is said to have taken place at the small Soldiers' Home cottage that Lincoln enjoyed retreating to, not at the White House.

In any case, Tripp extrapolates mightily from tiny scraps of evidence. If Steers doesn't entirely raze the "Gay Lincoln" legend, he certainly shows what shaky foundations it's built on.
http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/lection/080519.html