Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Was Abraham Lincoln Gay?

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 57; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00918369.2010.508325

1540-3602

Mark Ferguson,

American Sports and Literature

Abstract Scholars and historians are blind to Lincoln's same-sex inclinations in part because of a personal aversion to male homosexuality, but more importantly because they fail to perceive the vast differences between the sexual culture of antebellum America and that of our own time, especially in regard to male-male physical and emotional intimacy. This article brings those differences to light and sets Lincoln's life in the context of the sexual culture of his own time. This enables one to see that Lincoln's same-sex sexuality was not only unproblematic, but commonplace, if not typical, in his day. Revising the Myth of Lincoln in regard to his same-sex inclinations will have a positive effect on contemporary culture, especially on the education and socialization of young boys. Keywords: LincolnhomosexualityTripphistorynineteenth centurycultureboys Notes 1. The relationship between Lincoln and Speed was lifelong, although the sleeping together aspect of it seems to have ended with the respective marriages of first Speed and then Lincoln. CitationDonald (2003) provides a nice account of the subsequent course of this relationship beyond this early phase, which receives most of the attention (Chapter 2). 2. Lewis Gannett, who is listed as the "editor" of Tripp's book, made this comment to me regarding the Nobile collaboration in a personal communication: "Although Philip Nobile did indeed write the first draft of Chapter One, what appeared in print bears little resemblance to Nobile's exposition; the book's editor at Free Press, Bruce Nichols, with my assistance thoroughly rewrote that chapter. Second, apart from a very light copyedit, the overall text of Intimate World is precisely as Tripp wrote it, which is to say, it wasn't 'edited' or otherwise changed after his death. Had Tripp lived longer, I am confident that his book would have seen print in somewhat different form; it would have been better; but as it turned out, at least in my opinion, what did see print was the surprisingly successful result of a race against Tripp's terminal illness." Gannett also added that Tripp did not die from AIDS as is commonly believed, but rather from metastasized colon cancer. 3. These brothels and saloons continued within easy walking distance of the Capitol, the White House, and the business district of Washington, DC, until 1914 (CitationLowry, 1994, p. 69). Lowry also provides a very interesting account of a system of licensing and regulation of prostitutes established by the Union army in Nashville, Tennessee, which was very effective in reducing venereal disease (chap. 7). He calls it "America's first experiment with legalized, regulated prostitution," and pronounced it a success. A similar program was carried out in Memphis under William Tecumseh Sherman that was also very effective in minimizing disease among both the soldiers and the women. 4. "In 1859 I was in the Supreme Court room in the State House. Lincoln was or had been telling his yarns. A man, kind of lickspittle, a fawner, said: 'Lincoln, why do you not write out your stories and put them in a book?' Lincoln drew himself up, fixed his face, as if a thousand dead carcasses and a million privies were shooting all their stench into his nostrils, and said: 'Such a book would stink like a thousand privies.' Lincoln had two characteristics: one of purity, and the other, as it were, an insane love in telling dirty and smutty stories. A good story of that kind has a point with a sting to it" (H. E. Dummer as cited in CitationHertz, 1938, p. 385). "Having had the closest relations with Mr. Lincoln for some years while I was Senator, many of his anecdotes, apposite stories, etc., became known to me. Yet most of them seem inconsequential, and calculated to take away from our best estimate of him, which for all great considerations had better not be disturbed" (John Conness as cited in CitationRice, 1888, p. 568). 5. CitationLowry (1994) has a nice discussion of the development of this literature (chap. 3). He claims that the anti-masturbation hysteria began to take off in earnest with Sylvester Graham's (Graham cracker) Lectures to Young Men in 1834, which went through 10 editions in 15 years (p. 21). 6. This discussion draws mainly upon Citation Websters Word Histories (1989) and to a lesser extenton Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 3rd edition (CitationHedrickson, 2004), and The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories (CitationChantrell, 2002).