Review: Documentary 'Lover of Men' raises the question of whether Abraham Lincoln was gay, and is most interesting in examini why the question matters

When the documentary “Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln” is following its stated assignment — recounting the life of our 16th president, and the evidence that he had romantic and possibly sexual relationships with male companions — it’s satisfactory, but not compelling.

Where director and co-writer Shaun Peterson delivers a riveting message is in dissecting the ways this idea — that the guy on Mount Rushmore, the penny and the $5 bill was queer — has been dismissed or suppressed by generations of historians, and what that erasure says about what history means for marginalized communities in America.

The historians interviewed here discuss four significant relationships with male companions Lincoln had over his life.

• Bill Greene, whom Lincoln hired to work at his store in New Salem, Illinois in 1831 — and with whom Lincoln shared a tiny cot.

• Joshua Speed, who sublet his apartment in Springfield, Ill., to Lincoln in 1837, when Lincoln arrived as a new lawyer — and the two shared a bed for four years.

• Elmer Ellsworth, a dashing officer in the Union Army — and the first Union officer to die in the Civil War, which reportedly left Lincoln disconsolate.

• Capt. David Derickson, who was Lincoln’s bodyguard and companion from September 1862 to April 1863 — and reportedly shared Lincoln’s bed when the First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln, was away.

Historians have argued for decades about whether these relationships were sexual or romantic, or whether men sharing a bed was just the habit of the time. The historians Peterson has assembled here clearly are in the first camp — and argue that those who dismiss such discussions of Lincoln’s sexual identity are missing a larger point about what happens when all the history books are written by straight white males.

The examination of the fluid nature of sexual identity in the mid-19th century is film’s most fascinating discussion. Yes, the experts here note, Lincoln was married to a woman and had three children — but they also argue that such a marriage was expected for anyone harboring political ambitions, regardless of their romantic feelings or sexual attraction. 

Relationships between two men, the experts say, were not as reviled as they became — and that shift, they say, was promulgated both by Christian churches and the nation’s new religion, science, through which the white male elite tried to solidify their power by “othering” marginalized groups. One of the people blamed most strongly for demonizing same-sex attraction, the movie says, was the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who helped bring the word “homosexual” to its place in the language.

“Lover of Men” will not convince a lot of skeptics, or those who find their own identity challenged by the very notion of America’s most revered president being queer. (Reportedly, moviegoers seeing the conservative-leaning biopic “Reagan” over Labor Day weekend were outraged when the “Lover of Men” trailer played.) Those interested in seeing American history through another lens, and in hearing a discussion of why those different lenses matter, will be intrigued.

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‘Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln’

★★★

Opens Friday, September 6, at the AMC West Jordan 12. Not rated, but probably PG-13 for some sexual references and mature themes. Running time: 103 minutes.