Debates over Abraham Lincoln’s private life have lingered for years, but the upcoming documentary Lover of Men, hitting theaters Sept. 6, takes the conversation to new heights.
Using historical letters, expert analysis and daring reenactments, the film contends that one of America’s most revered presidents — the man who effectively ended slavery — engaged in passionate love affairs with men throughout his life. While some historians maintain that the 16th U.S. president was heterosexual, others argue in the film that Lincoln was a queer icon erased from history.
“He’s the greatest president the United States 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 potential relationships with men after reading Gore Vidal’s 2005 Vanity Fair article on C.A. Tripp’s biography The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, which faced pushback from scholars when it was published posthumously that same year.
Despite an abundance of what experts in the film describe as Lincoln’s “love letters,” and corroborating notes from alleged lovers and eyewitnesses, Peterson acknowledges that making such claims has always carried risk.
“Fifty years ago, it would have been hugely risky and threatening for historians to say this,” Harvard professor John Stauffer, who appears in the film and whose book Giants (2008) faced criticism for suggesting Lincoln was bisexual, told Yahoo Entertainment. Now, he believes audiences are more open to accepting it.
Thomas Balcerski, a professor at Occidental College and Eastern Connecticut State University, agrees. “Knowledge can be lost very quickly, and it takes much longer to build a historical case with scholarly consensus,” he told Yahoo Entertainment. “What’s different now is you have out queer scholars, like myself, who are very much engaged.”
Despite potential backlash, Peterson is confident that today’s LGBTQ population — over 1 in 5 Gen Z adults and 7.6% of the U.S. adult population, according to Gallup — is ready to embrace Lincoln as a queer figure.
“I think it’s a risk worth taking,” he said. “The time has come for this to be accepted and embraced.”
The men in Lincoln’s life
Lover of Men explores Lincoln’s intimate relationships with four key men: Billy Greene, Joshua Speed, Elmer Ellsworth and David Derickson.
After moving to New Salem, Ill., in 1831, Lincoln quickly bonded with Greene, historians say, sharing a small cot above the store they both worked in — a living arrangement they suggest was intimate and potentially Lincoln’s first sexual experience.
“He’s kind of a queer hero,” Peterson said of Lincoln. “His example shows that democracy, inclusion and equality are possible, and, hopefully, this will help us accept queer people in a way that feels under threat today.”
Holzer, while disagreeing with the film’s conclusions, asserts that Lincoln’s legacy transcends these debates.
“Whatever he really was, whomever he really loved, he saved the country and ended slavery — that remains the lead on his epitaph,” he said.
