Famous Gays

In his controversial book, The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, Dr. C.A. Tripp puts the long time allegations of Abraham Lincoln's same gender preferences to the test.

Tripp, a professor, clinical psychologist and colleague of Dr. Alfred Kinsey wrote the 1975 book, The Homosexual Matrix asserting that same-sex relationships were a normal part of human sexuality. Using Kinsey's 0-6 scale (which rates the degree of homosexuality or heterosexuality in any person), Trip claims that Abraham Lincoln had a rating of 5 (predominantly homosexual, only incidentally heterosexual) based on historical accounts that Lincoln reached puberty at an early age. To Kinsey and colleagues such as Tripp, sexuality at an early age was an indicator of same gender tendencies.

Tripp later writes of Abe Lincoln's alleged gay relationship with friend Joshua Speed, with whom he shared a bed in his 20's. He also cites several letters written by Lincoln, diaries and other historical accounts such as a poem written by a young Lincoln that references two men marrying. Dr. Tripp died two weeks after writing The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln.

So, was Abraham Lincoln gay?

Unfortunately, there is no absolute answer, only the interpretation of historical accounts like Dr. C.A. Tripp's book The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln. But if Lincoln was indeed gay, how would this affect modern day politics and the fight for gay rights?

In his L.A. Weekly article, "Was Abe Lincoln Gay?" Doug Ireland noted, "those who claim Lincoln as their political progenitor are trying to introduce a ban on recognition of same-sex love into the Constitution that Lincoln loved so much and defended so well, it seemed to me that the voters had an overriding right to know how, in doing so, the Republicans and their Christian-right allies are wounding the martyr-president squarely in his heart of hearts."

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