Was Abraham Lincoln gay? The new documentary “Lover of Men” explores questions surrounding his sexuality.

Debates about Abraham Lincoln’s personal life have been going on for years, but the upcoming documentary Lovers of menwhich hits theaters on September 6, takes the discussion to a new level.

Using historical letters, expert analysis and daring reenactments, the film shows that one of America’s most revered presidents – the man who effectively abolished slavery – had passionate romantic relationships with men throughout his life. While some historians claim that the 16th U.S. president was heterosexual, others in the film argue that Lincoln was a queer icon erased from history.

“He is the greatest president the United States has ever had, but he also loved men and he loved his wife [Mary Todd Lincoln]”, director Shaun Peterson told Yahoo Entertainment. Peterson first learned of Lincoln’s possible relationships with men after reading Gore Vidal’s 2005 Vanity Fair article about CA Tripp’s biography The intimate world of Abraham Lincolnwhich met with resistance from the scientific community when it was published posthumously in the same year.

Despite the abundance of what experts describe as Lincoln’s “love letters” in the film, and despite corroborating notes from alleged lovers and eyewitnesses, Peterson acknowledges that making such claims has always been risky.

“Fifty years ago, it would have been extremely risky and threatening for historians to say this,” said Harvard professor John Stauffer, who appears in the film and whose book Giants (2008) was criticized for suggesting Lincoln was bisexual, he told Yahoo Entertainment, but today he believes audiences are more open to it.

Thomas Balcerski, a professor at Occidental College and Eastern Connecticut State University, agrees. “Knowledge can be lost very quickly, and it takes a lot longer to build a historical case with scientific consensus,” he told Yahoo Entertainment. “What’s different today is that there are queer scientists like me who are very engaged.”

Despite potential backlash, Peterson is confident that today’s LGBTQ population – more than one in five Gen Z adults and 7.6 percent of the U.S. adult population, according to Gallup – is ready to accept Lincoln as a queer figure.

“I think it’s a risk worth taking,” he said. “It’s time for this to be accepted and embraced.”

The men in Lincoln’s life

Lovers of men examines Lincoln’s close relationships with four key men: Billy Greene, Joshua Speed, Elmer Ellsworth and David Derickson.

After moving to New Salem, Illinois in 1831, historians say Lincoln quickly became friends with Greene; the two shared a small cot above the store where they both worked. The living arrangement was, they believe, intimate and may have been Lincoln’s first sexual experience.

A few years later, in Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln reportedly shared a bed every night for about four years with store owner Joshua Speed, even though Lincoln, then a practicing lawyer, could afford his own apartment.

According to Peterson, practices such as sharing a bed with another man were commonplace in Lincoln’s time, and physical intimacy was almost expected in male friendships.

“People were intimate with each other, even bringing each other to orgasm, and that was part of the culture,” Peterson said. Lincoln and Speed ​​were different, however. Described in the film as “lust at first sight,” their relationship lasted their entire lives and they exchanged a number of loving letters over the years.

“These letters have a heart and soul and beauty and intimacy that is missing from Lincoln’s other letters, in terms of that deep affection for another human being,” Stauffer said.

Historians argue that Speed, who came from a wealthy slave-owning family, was not only Lincoln’s first love but also a major influence on his political ambitions. When Lincoln visited Speed’s family home in Kentucky, he later wrote about how the brutal reality of slavery up close and personal had shaped him.

In addition, their letters touch on their mutual fear of sex with women. Some historians of the film believe that this fear led Lincoln to briefly break off his engagement to Mary Todd. The engagement was only resumed after Speed ​​assured him that “the roof had not fallen in” after his own wedding night.

Their letters continued throughout the 1850s and ’60s, with some intended to remain private. In one case, Lincoln sent Speed ​​two separate letters: one very confidential, with explicit instructions not to show it to his wife; and a slightly more elaborate “cover letter” that Speed ​​had written for Fanny, Peterson explained.

Speed ​​​​died in 1882, nearly two decades after Lincoln’s assassination, but their relationship is still well documented.

“The men who knew about Lincoln’s relationship never changed their story,” Balcerski noted, pointing to letters from family and friends, including Lincoln’s own son Robert, who described Speed ​​​​as his father’s “closest” friend.

“He had a type”

The film also depicts his relationships with Col. Ellsworth, the first Union soldier of the Civil War, and Captain Derickson, who served as both bodyguard and bedfellow, although these were not as intimate as Lincoln’s relationship with Speed. In the film, both are described by historians as dashing, strong and handsome, not unlike Greene and Speed.

“He had a type,” Balcerski noted. “But the loves in Abraham Lincoln’s life have different meanings and vary by time and place. Ellsworth is in a transitional period for Lincoln as he is being put forward as a presidential candidate. All kinds of people are attracted to Lincoln at that time, and Ellsworth is one of them.”

Ellsworth was killed in 1861 while removing a Confederate flag from the roof of the Marshall House Inn in Alexandria, Virginia. After his death, Lincoln is said to have cried out, “My boy! My boy! Was this sacrifice necessary?” and spent some time in mourning.

In 1862, while Lincoln was working on the Emancipation Proclamation in a cottage outside Washington, D.C., a special friendship developed between him and Derickson. The film recounts eyewitness accounts in letters that the two shared a bed in Mary Todd’s absence, and Derickson was reportedly often seen in Lincoln’s nightgowns.

Lincoln historian Harold Holzer, who does not appear in the film, refutes the claim that Lincoln had intimate relationships with men. He told Yahoo Entertainment that there is “insufficient evidence to support this.”

Holzer referred to a letter in which a woman claimed she had “heard” that Lincoln had been seen in bed with Derickson, commenting, “What stuff.” He argues that this could simply mean “stuff and nonsense,” a common expression of the time.

However, Peterson argues that there is sufficient evidence, including eyewitness accounts from guards, to suggest Lincoln’s connections.

“There were enough people who saw Lincoln and Speed ​​​​go into their bedroom for four years, or Lincoln and his bodyguard, everyone knew they shared a bed and nightgowns,” Peterson said.

Such interactions were so commonplace in Lincoln’s time, he added, that they did not arouse suspicion until decades later, when societal views on sexual identity became more rigid and narrowly defined.

“A queer hero”

Despite the film’s controversial subject matter, Stauffer hopes the documentary will challenge perceptions of American history and LGBTQ acceptance.

“Many Americans define the United States as a heterosexual nation. Calling Lincoln gay is a threat to them,” he said.

Peterson welcomes this discomfort, saying the film aims to “get under the skin of the haters” and open the door to greater LGBTQ acceptance.

“He’s something of a queer hero,” Peterson said of Lincoln. “His example shows that democracy, inclusion and equality are possible, and hopefully that will help us accept queer people in ways that feel threatened today.”

While Holzer disagrees with the film’s conclusions, he argues that Lincoln’s legacy goes beyond these debates.

“Whoever he really was, whoever he really loved, he saved the country and ended slavery – that remains the inscription on his epitaph,” he said.