Abraham Lincoln Was Gay
Spelvin
He was told not to go that awful night of April 14, 1865 -- but he
wanted to see Laura Keene, his favorite actress. The rest is literally
history.
But now they're saying he was gay.
No, it's not because he was a "theatre queen."
In "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln," by the late C. A. Tripp
(published next week by The Free Press), the case is made that Abraham
Lincoln was gay as a goose.
Tripp based his conclusion on the following:
Lincoln was an extremely private person.
His stepmother once remarked, "He was not very fond of girls."
Lincoln once broke off his relationship to Mary Todd.
He shared a bed with a male friend (Joshua Speed) for four years.
Another friend, Billy Greene, once said that Lincoln's thighs "were as
perfect as a human being Could be." (Why he needed to capitalize
"could" remains a mystery.)
And other "smoking-gun" type stuff like that.
When I was growing up, before the world went loony, we were told a lot
of nonsense about Lincoln. He was almost a religious figure in them
there days. It was silly, but I guess it made us feel good about
America.
Now we live in an era that's almost exactly opposite -- we have to take
the old heroes (as long as they're white men, of course) and show they
were basically liars and phonies. We like to hear NOT about what made
them "great," but about all the sordid details of their private lives.
Jefferson is probably NOW best known for fathering a child with a slave.
But the people behind this "Lincoln Was Gay" trend have an agenda.
They're not even trying to hide it:
Jean H. Baker, author of "Mary Todd Lincoln:"
"I previously thought [Lincoln] was detached because he was thinking
great things... Now I see there is another explanation."
See -- in the "old days," Lincoln was thinking "great things." Now, in
our sordid times, that's not it at all. He was walking around lusting
after men.
Also -- notice that Ms. Baker doesn't say there MIGHT BE another
explanation. She says there IS. That's because she NEEDS this to be
true. Why she needs it to be true I'll reveal shortly. Let's hear more
from her:
She goes on to say that being gay is what MADE Lincoln a great
president. As a homosexual "he would be on the margins of tradition.
He is willing to be independent, to do what is right. It is invested in
his soul, in his psyche and in his behavior."
Now, if you don't think that's the biggest load of crap ever uttered by
a so-called intellectual, please explain why. Let's examine it:
Because he was a homosexual, Lincoln was willing "to do what is right."
Ah, yes! We all know from our life experience that no heterosexual is
ever willing to do what is right -- we all know that every homosexual in
the world IS willing to do what is right.
Do you think maybe Ms. Baker might be a Lesbian? Think maybe?
So, you see the agenda now. It isn't to pull down Lincoln -- it's to
elevate homosexuals. The idea here is that, yes, Lincoln was great --
but it was BECAUSE he was a homosexual. Now, all you Americans who
revere the man, you'll have to start revering homosexuals, too.
This IS what Ms. Baker is implying. I can't interpret her words any
other way.
But some people are more blatant. Now let's hear from gay activist
Larry Kramer:
"It's a revolutionary book because the most important president in the
history of the United States was gay. Now maybe they'll leave us alone
-- all those people in the party he founded."
And there's the agenda, spelled out.
Maybe Lincoln was gay -- maybe he wasn't. But if he WAS, I really doubt
that's what made his greatness. I also don't think his greatness will
thus rub off on every gay person in the world.
Where's the logic in it? They're saying, "Abraham Lincoln was gay.
Abraham Lincoln was great. I'm gay. Therefore, I'm great."
What if someone next "discovers" that John Wilkes Booth was gay? Uh oh.
Spelvin
Eagle
Spelvin wrote:
> So, you see the agenda now. It isn't to pull down Lincoln -- it's to
> elevate homosexuals. The idea here is that, yes, Lincoln was great
--
> but it was BECAUSE he was a homosexual. Now, all you Americans who
> revere the man, you'll have to start revering homosexuals, too.
I'm not fond of using the term "a homosexual." One may be inclined
toward homosexual behavior, but it's a collectivistic mindset that
turns behavior into a *type* of person, to be used as an identity.
Steve Newport
iny...@nospam.net (Spelvin)
No, it's not because he was a "theatre queen." He shared a bed with a
male friend (Joshua Speed) for four years.
Another friend, Billy Greene, once said that Lincoln's thighs "were as
long as they're white men, of course) and show they were basically liars
with a slave. In the "old days," Lincoln was thinking "great things."
Now, in our sordid times, he was walking around lusting after men. We
all know from our life experience that no heterosexual is ever willing
to do what is right -- we all know that every homosexual in the world IS
great -- but it was BECAUSE he was a homosexual. If he WAS, I really
doubt that's what made his greatness. I also don't think his greatness
will thus rub off on every gay person in the world.
As a romantic figure in the theatre he was probably bi. Same goes for
powerful politicians.
Steve Newport
eaglene...@yahoo.com (Eagle)
And right now, alas, not "The Marrying Kind."
DylanBD
course make the question of Lincoln's love life into a battle of social
agendas, I'm getting more interested in it as an example of the ambiguity of
history-making even just a century and a half after the fact.
The debate seems to be as much about the way earlier biographers have
"slanted" Lincoln as in the facts of his life. You have Carl Sandburg, a
very heterosexual writer in a very homophobic time, mysteriously referring
to "streaks of lavender, spots as soft as May violets" in the letters
between the young Lincoln and his roommate Joshua Speed. This peculiar
phrase seems to be a favorite piece of evidence on the "Lavender Lincoln"
side--not any fact about his life, but something someone hinted about him
decades after his death.
Then you have the whole bizarre "Ann Rutledge" story -- in which Lincoln's
first biographer (and his law partner while he lived with Speed) invented
out of whole cloth a doomed affair and engagement to a woman who, it turns
out, was actually engaged to someone else at the time she and Lincoln knew
each other. What was the point of this melodramatic invention? Did Herndon
just think his book needed a female lead, and that the frumpy, ill-tempered
Mary Todd didn't quite fit the bill?
Seems like none of Lincoln's biographers have been able to resist putting
their stamp on him in one way or another, and the debate becaomes not about
Lincoln but a debate about the debate.
fmomoon
Spelvin <iny...@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:Xns95D673BD...@216.196.97.131...
> Where's the logic in it? They're saying, "Abraham Lincoln was gay.
> Abraham Lincoln was great. I'm gay. Therefore, I'm great."
>
> What if someone next "discovers" that John Wilkes Booth was gay? Uh oh.
>
> Spelvin
Don't put too much credence to it, Spelvin. At one time or another, I think
books have been written about most famous people with the claim that they
were gay. It makes me wonder if anyone is straight anymore. Who knows and
what difference does it really make 150 years later?
--
Moni (fmomoon)
"The truth shall set you free; but first you'll be really p*ssed off!" Bill
Cosby
Grace Noble
"Steve Newport" <srrne...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:17073-41D...@storefull-3155.bay.webtv.net...
Don't forget he was shacked up with "Mary" Todd Lincoln. ;)
"Oh Mary, you look like you could use a night in the Lincoln bedroom."
"Oh Abe, show me your stovepipe hat. Or at least your big ol' stovepipe."
Beb11572
time* ..."
Steve Newport
fmomoo...@comcast.net (fmomoon) It makes me wonder if anyone is
straight anymore.
------------------------------
Certainly no males in the casting industry.
Steve Newport
dbryan...@yahoo.com (DylanBD) Gore Vidal on one side
------------------------------
Why does Vidal keep casting Chris Noth?
Sweevil
busy saving the union, ending slavery, etc. to think much about sex at all.
Trapped in our own assumptions, we can't believe people in other ages didn't
value sexual gratification as highly as we do, but according to much
evidence, they did not.
"Spelvin" <iny...@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:Xns95D673BD...@216.196.97.131...
Norma Bates
Grace Noble
"Norma Bates" <norma...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:cthut01i1urmnfgbl...@4ax.com...
> Oh, please. You can tell by LOOKING.
And don't forget, his handlers told him he would be more successful with a
beard. Being a farm boy from the Midwest he just misunderstood what they
meant.
Steve Newport
stephen...@comcast.net (Sweevil)
do
Although, they went to bed earlier......
hiya
Did I miss something? Is there a new musical about Lincoln?
hiya
Carl Sandburg was hetero? That's news to me.
On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 00:02:26 GMT, "DylanBD" <dbryan...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
>The debate seems to be as much about the way earlier biographers have
>"slanted" Lincoln as in the facts of his life. You have Carl Sandburg, a
>very heterosexual writer in a very homophobic time, mysteriously referring
>to "streaks of lavender, spots as soft as May violets" in the letters
>between the young Lincoln and his roommate Joshua Speed. This peculiar
>phrase seems to be a favorite piece of evidence on the "Lavender Lincoln"
>side--not any fact about his life, but something someone hinted about him
>decades after his death.
>
>
Listen free to selections from the musical "Ralph!"
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/user_page.pl?url=wlr
DylanBD
> Carl Sandburg was hetero? That's news to me.
He wasn't? I suppose his "butch" stance could be taken as Whitmanesque, but
his romance with his wife seems to have been passionate and sincere--their
letters have been published.
(Googles) ... I don't find anything about it online.
Steve Newport
From: ci...@yahoo.com (hiya)
And will it star Mario Cantone?