Was Abraham Lincoln really gay, or is it a misconception ?

Abraham Lincoln's significance in American history has led to the emergence of a specialized field of study dedicated solely to his life and legacy. Professional historians with advanced degrees have spent their entire careers examining even the smallest details of Lincoln's life.

Despite this intense scrutiny, new theories continue to emerge every few years, attempting to provide answers to unresolved questions about the man who is widely regarded as one of America's greatest presidents.

There has been ongoing scholarly debate surrounding various aspects of Abraham Lincoln's life, including speculation about his potential physical ailments, whether he suffered from clinical depression, and an intriguing question to some regarding his sexual orientation and the possibility of him being gay.

Was he really gay, or is it a misconception ?

At face value, there is no evidence in Lincoln's public life to suggest anything other than a heterosexual orientation. During his youth, he pursued relationships with women and later married Mary Todd, with whom he had four children.

Despite Lincoln's penchant for telling suggestive jokes about sex with women, his private boasts about his pre-marriage conquests, and his occasional flirtations with Washington socialites, there is no indication of him being anything other than heterosexual. Even in the sensationalist press of his time, none of Lincoln's adversaries hinted at any suggestion that his sexual orientation was anything other than straight.

However, it's important to note that appearances can be misleading. During Abraham Lincoln's era, America was experiencing a period of intense Puritanism, which placed a strong emphasis on female chastity and the expectation that men would remain loyal to their partners.

Men who were suspected of engaging in "sodomy" or "unnatural acts" were subject to losing their careers and social status. Such accusations could even result in long prison sentences, which explains why there are very few openly gay public figures in the historical record from the 19th century.

Hint of homosexuality

In 1837, Abraham Lincoln went to Springfield, Illinois, to start a law firm. There, he became friends with Joshua Speed, a 23-year-old shopkeeper and son of a prominent judge. They rented an apartment together, shared a bed, and were very close.

Lincoln and Speed's relationship was so close that it would still be considered unusual today. When Speed's father passed away in 1840, Joshua decided to return to his family plantation in Kentucky, which deeply affected Lincoln.

Consequently, Lincoln broke off his engagement to Mary Todd on January 1, 1841, and had plans to follow Joshua to Kentucky. Although Joshua left without him, Lincoln eventually followed a few months later, in July. In 1926, Carl Sandburg, a writer, published a biography of Lincoln in which he referred to the relationship between the two men as having a "streak of lavender" and being "soft as May violets."

Joshua Speed eventually married a woman named Fanny Henning. They were married for 40 years until Joshua's death in 1882, and the marriage did not result in any children.

Lincoln and With David Derickson

Between 1862 and 1863, President Lincoln was under the protection of Captain David Derickson, who served as his bodyguard from the Pennsylvania Bucktail Brigade.

Unlike Joshua Speed, Derickson was a prolific father, having been married twice and fathering ten children. However, like Speed, Derickson became a close friend of the president and shared his bed wearing Lincoln's night shirt while Mary Todd was out of Washington.

The accurate portrayal of non-heterosexual lifestyles in Western societies has been obscured by the harsh punishments that were once inflicted on those who did not conform to traditional gender norms.

It is understandable that many prominent homosexuals from the Victorian Age would have gone to great lengths to keep their personal lives private, making it difficult for scholars to conduct unbiased research on the subject.

The question of whether Abraham Lincoln was gay or not remains a topic of debate among scholars and historians. While some have pointed to his close relationships with men, such as Joshua Speed and David Derickson, as evidence of his homosexuality, others argue that such relationships were not uncommon for men of that time period and do not necessarily indicate homosexuality.

It is worth noting that there is no definitive evidence one way or the other, and any claims regarding Lincoln's sexual orientation are ultimately speculative.