Review: Was Abraham Lln gay? A new play offers a queer lens - Los Angel Tim

Contents:

• WAS ABRAHAM LLN OUR FIRST GAY PRINT?
• WAS ABRAHAM LLN GAY?
• A FAY HISTORY PROVIS MORE EVINCE THAT LLN WAS GAY
• FURTHER PROOF THAT LLN WAS GAY
• WAS ABRAHAM LLN GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BI?
• REVIEW: WAS ABRAHAM LLN GAY? A NEW PLAY L.A. IMAG HIS LIFE THROUGH A QUEER LENS
• A REPUBLIN HERO, BUT WAS ABE LLN GAY?
• ‘BOOK OF QUEER’ CREATOR ERIC CERVI TEACH LGBTQ HISTORY, LIKE HOW ABRAHAM LLN MIGHT’VE BEEN GAY
• WERE LLN AND NIXON GAY? THE ‘HISTORY’ BOOK THAT IS DIVIDG AMERI
• WAS LLN GAY?
• NEW BOOK EXPLOR WHETHER ABRAHAM LLN WAS GAY
• OLR/ FATTER - NIWEZIJDS GAY SNA
• THE 10 BEST AMSTERDAM GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS AMSTERDAM

WAS ABRAHAM LLN OUR FIRST GAY PRINT?

Scholars have bated whether Lln suffered om a host of physil ailments, whether or not he was clilly prsed, and — perhaps most trigugly to some — if Abraham Lln was gay.

An accatn of this sort uld even lead to ser prison time, so ’s no surprise that the historil rerd om the 19th century is sparse openly gay public figur. For many years, a kd of gay-revisnist history has been wrten, which this or that historil figure is held up to tense scholarly scty and clared by one activist historian or another to have been gay, transgenred, or bisexual.

It’s evable that virtually all of the proment homosexuals of the Victorian Age would go to extreme lengths to keep their affairs as private as possible, and this mak hont scholarship on the subject challengg at bt.

WAS ABRAHAM LLN GAY?

From the mixed rerds we do have, an distct picture n be drawn that pats the 16th print as anythg om a eply closeted homosexual to an enthiastic heterosexual. After readg about the evince about whether or not Abraham Lln was gay, vis our post on the fotten story of the Lln assassatn and tertg facts about Lln you’ve probably never heard before.

A FAY HISTORY PROVIS MORE EVINCE THAT LLN WAS GAY

Scholars and historians are bld to Lln's same-sex clatns part bee of a personal aversn to male homosexualy, but more importantly bee they fail to perceive the vast differenc between the sexual culture of antebellum Ameri and that of our own time, pecially regard to male-male physil and emotnal timacy. Lln, ” he imag a sensive story about two men who were the bt of iends and maybe Lln was gay or bisexual has never been substantiated, and the evince is weak. "Many historians are quick to say that men shared beds due to a bed shortage and that surely Lln, the savr of the Unn, uld not have been gay.

The studied impulse to make Lln absolutely heterosexual reflects a discernible societal disfort wh the plexi of human sexualy and sexual orientatn, as well as eply embedd streaks of homophobia. Some historians, skeptil about Lln’s alleged homosexualy, often ce his marriage and urtships as evince that he uldn’t have been gay. Even if Lln were gay or bi, there’s a very good reason why we see so ltle proof of his sexualy: the belief at the time that homosexual acts were “unnatural”.

It would make sense that if there were any evince that he was gay, would’ve been quickly supprsed to protect his social stat. However, there are two thgs to nsir: the different social norms of the tim and the strong possibily that any homosexual behavr would’ve been ncealed by Lln himself. If they uld outn their shame and embrace the love that dared not speak s name 19th century Ameri or for much of the 20th, for that Kramer long ntend that Lln was gay and ed even wrote about his novel “The Amerin People: Volume 1, Search for My Heart.

FURTHER PROOF THAT LLN WAS GAY

And Taffeta always knows bt, even when buffeted by the celt of ner voic — the mockg, preyg, sadistic remarks of ternalized racism, homophobia and fatphobia. Tripp produc evince that one of Ameri's greatt Prints had a long-term relatnship wh a youthful iend, Joshua Speed, and shared his bed wh David Derickson, pta of his, a former rearcher for sex scientist Aled Ksey and an fluential gay wrer, clus asis by many of Lln's close iends. However, crics say that the pneer days men sleepg together rough circumstanc was not Tripp has disvered letters between Lln and Speed which supposedly betray a ep Tripp's book really breaks new ground s exhstive portrayal of many of Lln's possible gay lovers, cludg one man who said Lln's thighs 'were as perfect as a human beg uld be'.

WAS ABRAHAM LLN GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BI?

'Make no mistake - Abe Lln was gay, ' said Profsor Stt Thompson, om the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at David Donald, a Harvard profsor and rpected Lln bgrapher, has disputed Tripp's fdgs his own book, We Are Lln Men, published last year, and says there is no five proof of Lln havg affairs wh any men. Department of Defense astronomer and gay rights activist Frank Kameny, is beg adapted by Tony-wng playwright Matthew López (“The Inherance”) as a limed seri for Amazon wh Brad Pt’s Plan B Entertament producg.

Gay-rights activist and award-wng thor Larry Kramer is 79 and failg health, but that won’t fe the impact of his latt bombshell project: the first 800-page stalment of a two-part history of Ameri that tells of the secret gay life of figur om Alexanr Haton, Gee Washgton and Abraham Lln to Mark Twa, Herman Melville and Richard Amerin People: Volume 1, subtled Search for My Heart, has taken nearly 40 years to plete and may prove to be one of the most provotive historil, or psdo-historil, acunts of Amerin, who is -founr of Aids servic group Gay Men’s Health Crisis and the Aids Coaln to Unleash Power (Act Up), as well as a chronicler of queer life wh plays cludg The Normal Heart and The Dty of Me, said the book is a labour of love signed to unter what he feels to be the excln of gays – or gay life – om history books. There has never been any history book wrten where the gay people have been the history om the ’s ridiculo to thk we haven’t been here for ever. ”The Amerin People, Volume I: Search for My Heart is g nsternatn among historians, who say there is ltle evince to back Kramer’s Chernow, thor of an epic 2004 bgraphy of Alexanr Haton – the statman Kramer claims was at least bisexual if not entirely gay – utns agast “ransackg history service of a polil agenda” also claims that John Wilk Booth assassated Abraham Lln not bee he was unhappy that the South was losg the civil war, but bee Lln had spurned him.

The thor sisted should clu gay sex; Streisand retorted that her tentn was “to promote the ia of everyone’s right to love.

REVIEW: WAS ABRAHAM LLN GAY? A NEW PLAY L.A. IMAG HIS LIFE THROUGH A QUEER LENS

He claims Lln bgrapher Doris Kearns Goodw beme “hysteril” at the suggtn of homosexual tennci the print but this was, he add an terview wh NPR, “only bee she didn’t wre first” book, which has been labelled as a novel to avoid legal plitns, has divid US reviewers.

Whether is absolutely accurate or not, The Amerin People speaks to a need across gay and straight muni to revise historil acunts om which sexual orientatn was absent.

”From some quarters there have been lls for a exclively gay branch of archaeology directed solely at tablishg sexual orientatn (Kramer claims trac of semen found the stools of English settlers prove his pot) where gay rights warrrs sought to fe themselv as gay fiance of the stigma around Aids, Hickl nsirs that sexual orientatn is no longer a sgular marker of inty. Thirty five years sce HIV/Aids was intified there is still no cure, and vlence agast gay people is creasg several parts of the world.

A REPUBLIN HERO, BUT WAS ABE LLN GAY?

We exame the powerful and never accsible rmatn that mak startlgly clear a great sufferg; we see this turn bee the source of power which mov this parched great spir to worldly greatns while matag his humany; and are forced to nclu that he uld never e to personally satisfyg terms wh the active homosexualy which he sacrificed to pnce and ambn on the thrhold of his reer. For this se, any traed scholar who (like the prent wrer) is gay has a substantial advantage, the very same tuive feel that mastream analysts have for heterosexual is a paful qutn for most honorable, tolerant Amerins even to thk of posg.

Equally obv is the reason for the agonized ristance offered to the sight--not to the trsic relevance of the sexualy of a master spir, but to the anxieti that the issue evok, once so much as posed among men of our culture alg wh homosexualy--pecially perhaps homosexualy how to make so dac a claim upon perhaps our greatt print?

‘BOOK OF QUEER’ CREATOR ERIC CERVI TEACH LGBTQ HISTORY, LIKE HOW ABRAHAM LLN MIGHT’VE BEEN GAY

Homosexualy has never been attributed to this man--even a recent splendid psychobgraphy by the historian Michael Burlgame, which vlat every ntemporary piety wh a twenty-three page chapter on Lln's loathg of women, fails to explore the possibily.

WERE LLN AND NIXON GAY? THE ‘HISTORY’ BOOK THAT IS DIVIDG AMERI

Ined Burlgame, when asked, simply observed that the thought occurred to him om all his rearch that Lln was gay, "But there wasn't any proof.

We would like to propose a five-fold tt for the tablishment of homosexual nature, clared or unclared, and argue that anyone fulfillg at least three of the ndns is more likely sence gay than straight, whatever route to which he ms himself: to argue that where the are met that the prumptn of heterosexualy ought not to obta and that of bisexualy at least should be entertaed.

For the fact is that a gay man, however much he lik women, lik to gossip wh women, lik to ok wh women, isn't erotilly drawn to them and over time this be pably apparent unls he mak a staed, character-distortg effort. Marriage is perhaps the olst survivg, harst, and most rewardg form of work, one of the centiv to work at beg sex, which also repairs difficulti; but for a gay man sex wh a woman is ually a st, a drawback, not an attractn. Numero gay men still marriag will tell how they avoid sex-- the hope that over time the wiv' sire for may attenuate (or the hbands will divert her to other pleasur and satisfactns).

WAS LLN GAY?

) But then the centiv to that succs were legn: his voted wife was patient wh his early sexual malfunctn, she was enormoly rich, and opened all manner of doors to his bankg and polil reers--all this startg a perd far ls iendly than our own to homosexualy--ed to most 'differenc' well beyond the sexual--and th providg all the more centive to try anythg to mata the marriage. Aga, there are effemate men who tly are straight, and even more so, there are 'macho' men who are gay; and downright mascule-lookg men, like Abe Lln, who are gay.

But by and large, some form of palpable effemacy is an accurate ditor of homosexualy, pecially when manift wh at least two other of our variabl.

In fact, our experience, our culture where homosexualy is at least margally tolerated, but never really taken for granted, most mors are te. Until recently, so far as morn Wtern culture went, avowed homosexualy was patible wh a public reer; remas a stigma of still-remarkable power, sometim, fact ever more monly, manifts no longer a sgle lighteng-like stctn but as a terme-like pacy to hollow and unrme.

NEW BOOK EXPLOR WHETHER ABRAHAM LLN WAS GAY

Homosexual men--and we are largely speakg of men spe the risg number of women public life--eher have had to seek the seedy si for some fulfillment wh the danger"of exposure always lurkg"--as did Robert Bman, the gay-bashg Maryland ngrsman of recent fame, who was duly overtaken and ed by his hidn choic, or Whaker Chambers cisg Dupont Circle a generatn earlier. Or, a very special few put themselv through a powerful disciple of transcennce: that is to say, they mt experience their homosexualy to s fullt pths, accept , unrstand that is patible wh other strivgs, namely for power or ed for any form of cent thory and digny, and put asi this central element of their élan--parallel, a sense, to a pritly vow of celibacy. Of urse this is a polilly rrect ncln, pecially for nservative crics of society's expandg acceptance of gay people--though hardly for those gay non-leftists who several years ago formed, all unknowgly, the natnal anizatn of 'Log Cab Republins.

OLR/ FATTER - NIWEZIJDS GAY SNA

' Ined the bt empiril evince om an examatn of Lln on the first variable--a bond relatnship--and will be far more pellg to the gay TtIn his early thirti, before eher he or his love-object Joshua Speed married, they lived together cramped circumstanc over four full years; not to put too fe a pot on , "the young men slept the same bed every night, " acrdg to a very straight and nventnal source. Ksey himself mak the pot that the ral muny has been an excellent place for homosexualy to breed: boys al only wh other boys, mascule virtu are extolled.

THE 10 BEST AMSTERDAM GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS AMSTERDAM

Homosexualy"is found among ranchmen, ttle men, prospectors, lumbermen, and farmg groups general--among groups that are virile, physilly active. Emotnally srred as he was childhood, Lln lacked the pacy to tst women and relate easily to the se for transcennce suggts that when he took the cisn to marry was the Uned Stat rather than Mary Todd that he poed and that the image of the Republic blossomg om Ann Rutledge's bosom rri the ronance of a burial: both were symbolic and ever more eply TtThe fourth variable, the 'feme' si of Lln asserts self not his appearance--though gay men are seldom surprised by the appearanc of new 'nverts to the e, ' who e siz and shap the heterosexual do not envisage. Even more important than--but related to--the feme si that homosexualy is often so primively taken to reprent a gay man is the distance and distancg effects--and th the necsary transcennce om polics-as-ual.