Book
Questions Abraham Lincoln's Sexuality
By
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News; Dec. 8, 2004
What follows is an article from the Discovery News. Although the homosexual
community was a little stunned at the small loss in the battle for equalization
of marriage rights, suffer no illusions, the homosexual community is in this
war for the long haul.
I am not a scholar but I do remember reading a book in 1973 about the
sons of Abraham Lincoln and how the eldest son burned a large amount of his
parents letters late in his life, making it impossible for anyone to know what
was written between Mary Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln (they had four sons).
Any scholar should have no problem stating that Mr. Lincoln was a man who
believed in God and was also well versed in what was in the Bible. The bible
of Mr. Lincoln's time for most people was of the King James version,
which states that a man lying with another as one lies with a woman is an
abomination.
None of us are perfect, but most people when they believe in God,
and know something is an abomination, do not go around snubbing their nose at
God. Abraham Lincoln was not a stupid individual, so I cannot envision him
snubbing his nose at God.
I believe the junk written smearing Mr. Lincoln are nothing but lies in
an attempt to further the homosexual agenda.
Unfortunately the Republican party in
its lust for money does not look like it is going to do much (will talk
little if any, no action) to upset the
republican homosexuals (Log Cabin Republicans,
visit their web-site) money or vote.
A forthcoming book claims that the sixteenth president of the United States,
Abraham Lincoln, was a homosexual, based on evidence ranging from a
post-assassination interview with Lincoln's stepmother to a poem about gay
marriage written by the Civil War leader.
The book, entitled "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln,"
will be published on Jan. 11 by The Free Press, a Simon & Schuster company.
It was authored by C.A. Tripp, associate professor of psychiatry at the State
University of New York, and a researcher who worked closely with Alfred Kinsey
on studies concerning human sexuality.
“ I think that his homosexuality was not noticed by either
his wife, or many of his friends, which is one reason why we are only finding
out about it today. ”
Tripp died at the age of 83, just two weeks after finishing the book,
which he worked on over the last 14 years of his life.
A spokesperson at The Free Press told Discovery News that Tripp's book would
not be available to the media until closer to January, but the L.A. Weekly
published sections of the book, on which this article is based.
To argue his case that Lincoln (1809-1865) was gay, Tripp gathered
biographical texts contemporary to Lincoln's time, private correspondence, and
other books and documents culled from his database of more than 600
Lincoln-related texts, which now are housed at the Lincoln Institute in
Springfield, Ill.
The L.A. Weekly also published Lincoln's poem about gay marriage. The
poem, which he wrote when he was a teenager, may have been the most explicit of
its kind for America in the 1800s. It reads:
"I will tell you a Joke
about Jewel and Mary
It is neither a Joke nor a Story
For Rubin and Charles has married two girls
But Billy has married a boy
The girlies he had tried on every Side
But none could he get to agree
All was in vain he went home again
And since that is married to Natty
So Billy and Natty agreed very well
And mama's well pleased at the match
The egg it is laid but Natty's afraid
The Shell is So Soft that it never will hatch
But Betsy she said you Cursed bald head
My Suitor you never Can be
Beside your low crotch proclaims you a botch
And that never Can serve for me"
The book also includes affectionate correspondence between the former president
and merchant Joshua Speed, with whom Lincoln shared a bed for four years from
his late 20s to early 30s, and an account written by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas
Chamberlain, a 19th century historian.
Chamberlain wrote that in Mrs. Lincoln's absence, the president would
sleep, share nightshirts, and conduct an "intimacy" with David
Derickson, who was captain of Lincoln's bodyguard Company K.
Additionally, the book contains descriptions of Lincoln from his
stepmother, who said he "never took much interest in the girls," and
poet Carl Sandburg, who wrote that both Speed and Lincoln possessed "a
streak of lavender, and spots soft as May violets."
Jean Baker, professor of history at Goucher College and the author of
"Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography," told Discovery News, "I
believe that Lincoln engaged in homosexual acts with several men, but this was
an era before any understanding of the concept of self-identifying as an
homosexual. The word was not even used during Lincoln's life."
As for Lincoln's wife, Baker believes she knew nothing of her husband's
purported relationships with men.
"I think that his homosexuality was not noticed by either his wife,
or many of his friends, which is one reason why we are only finding out about
it today," Baker said.
Tripp was not the first to theorize about Lincoln's sexuality. Charles
Shively, University of Massachusetts at Boston professor emeritus of American
history, described what he viewed was a homosexual relationship between Lincoln
and Speed in his book concerning the private life of poet and naturalist Walt
Whitman, whom many researchers also believe was gay.
Conservative groups have denounced the suggestions, and several
historians remain skeptical about the Lincoln claims.
Douglas L. Wilson, co-director of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College,
told the Southern Voice newspaper, "(Lincoln) and Speed were soul mates
and all the indications I have seen show they had this close relationship. They
were both the same age and in the same situation. They were concerned about
this transition from bachelorhood to marriage and all that."
Wilson added, "I can see how that is suggestive and points in other
directions but it really indicates that they saw things in very similar ways
and had the same emotional take on the world."