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The trailer of this movie created a lot of buzz by claiming that Abraham Lincoln was gay and had many male lovers. Now Lovers of Men: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln is again in news as it releases in the theaters on September 6. Documentary director Shaun Peterson said he researched on the topic extensively and spoke to many scholars who appear om the film.
When Lincoln first arrives in Springfield, Illinois, as a young, penniless lawyer, his lust at first sight was Joshua Fry Speed, a historian said in the movie.
Lincoln and Joshua didn't just live together, they shared a bed. But it grew into love, the historian concluded. "There is love, I’m convinced, between those two men," the historian said.
The trailer received flak as Elon Musk, Alex Jones, Ben Shapiro tweeted against it. The director said he was prepared for this. "I knew that was coming. And nowadays, where it’s even harder in this fake news world, where people on the right have mobilized against LGBTQ rights in a way that is unprecedented, I knew the heat was going to come. We wanted to introduce this topic in a way so that it could create some debate, but then also contextualize the whole thing, get into the deeper history of human sexuality. And then, of course, try to get as many Ivy League scholars involved so it just doesn’t seem like a conspiracy theory film. It’s really rooted in scholarship. No matter what you do, you’re going to get people hating on the film, but we wanted to at least bring as many big name scholars into it as possible," the director said.
The movie deals with four men in Abraham Lincoln's life -- William Greene, Elmer Ellsworth, David Derickson and Joshua Speed. Historians suggested in the movie that Lincoln may have been a virgin at 33 when he married Mary Todd who went on to become the first lady. "You have two theories: He's a virgin, which I dismiss, or his sexual needs were being met through men.... I can conclude that Lincoln had his physical needs met through contact with other men, and I can see it as a pattern in his life."
William Greene was the first key man in Lincoln's life when Lincoln moved to New Salem. They were inseparable even while sleeping, it has been claimed. "They were sleeping pressed together so they wouldn't fall off the cot — spooning. I can't imagine sleeping like that would have been tolerable for either one of them if they didn't like it," professor Michael Chesson of the University of Massachusetts said.
Joshua gave Lincoln the presidential makeover though first lady Mary Todd Lincoln got the credit. After Speed left for Kentucky to help his mother following the death of his father, Lincoln wrote, "I'm now the most miserable man living. If what I am feeling were distributed to the whole human family, there would not be a cheerful face on the earth."
