EDGE Interview: New Doc Asks, Was Abraham Lincoln a 'Lover of Men?'

America's greatest president was arguably a genius in several respects: A masterful statesman, a tactician, a man of great intellectual gifts and a talent for hearing, and communicating with, the people.

And, despite latter-day, self-proclaimed comparisons by America's 45th president, our greatest commander in chief still stands head and shoulders above the pack, having shepherded a bitterly divided nation through its greatest peril: The American Civil War, a conflict that raged from 1861 – 1865, aspects of which are still hotly contested today.

The accepted historical interpretation of the war's origins is that Abraham Lincoln was against allowing slavery to expand from the Southern states into the nascent Western states, and the secession of seven Southern states from the Union – and their declaration that they were now a new nation, the Confederate States of America – was triggered by Lincoln's election, in 1860, to the presidency. Lincoln held the course, declared that enslaved Black people were free, and guided the Union to victory over the Confederacy, only to be murdered a mere five days after the South conceded defeat.

He was a hero to the cause of equality and the preserver of the United States of America as "one nation." But was Lincoln – wise, unflinching, deeply humanistic – also queer?

The case has been made before, despite such terminology having originated after Lincoln's time. Until the 20th century and notions of "sexual inverts" (later dubbed homosexuals) deeply emotional friendships between men, complete with tender physical contact and expressions of endearment, were commonplace. Indeed, as the new documentary "Lover of Men" notes, both men and women were expected to carry out "homosocial" friendships that did not cross gender lines. Given this, even reports that Lincoln shared his bed for years on end with another man don't seem to signal that he was necessarily gay; after all, homes in the 19th century weren't heated as efficiently as they are now.

But those counter-arguments lose force in the face of the revelations contained in "Lover of Men," which explains more fully who Lincoln was, who the significant men in his life were, and how he was only reluctantly married to Mary Todd – to whom he had been engaged once before, only to break that engagement off in order to placate Joshua Fry Speed, the scion of a slaveholding family with whom Lincoln famously shared his bed for four years (despite, we learn in the documentary, having had the option of a bed to himself). Indeed, we're told, Speed was "the love of Lincoln's life," and evidence both of Lincoln's sexual relationship with Speed – and his sexual jealousy when Speed was compelled to marry, freeing Lincoln up to wed Mary Todd – are presented here.

Speed wasn't the only man with whom Lincoln was so intimate. The man who would become our 16th president shared a bed no bigger than a cot with a fellow named Billy Greene, enjoyed the tutelage of a man named William Mentor Graham with whom he lived for half a year, was smitten with Elmer Ellsworth – the leader of a militia composed of self-styled "Zouaves" – and, even after having been married for years, shared his bed (and his nightshirts) with his bodyguard, Capt. David Derickson. The film investigates each of these relationships, revealing surprising details that illuminate the argument that, even if Lincoln would not have understood the word "queer" as we do now, the term described him all the same.

EDGE had the opportunity to delve into the film, and the history behind it, in a chat with director Shaun Peterson; historian Tom Balcersky, author of "Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King," as well as the 2016 article "Beards, Bachelors, and Brides: The Surprisingly Spicy Politics of the Presidential Election of 1856," which compellingly compared the election that year to the election of the article's title; and Harvard Professor of English and of African and African-American Studies John Stauffer, author of 19 published books, with a 20th – on Charles Sumner, the abolitionist and Massachusetts senator who was famously attacked and almost beaten to death by slaveholder and South Carolina Rep. Preston Brooks – on the way. It would be hard to imagine a gathering more qualified to address not only speculations around Lincoln's sexuality, but the ways in which America's current moment all-too-closely parallels America of the 1860s.

"Lover of Men" opened on September 6 in limited release. Visit the film's website to see if it is in a theater near you.

EDGE: We're told that Lincoln was our most consequential and perhaps our greatest president. Can you say a bit about that in context of the LGBTQ+ community and our willingness to embrace him as one of our own, as well as the pushback against that idea?

Tom Balcersky: As gay people, this is something we would want to do. I mean, let's be honest: Abraham Lincoln being part of the LGBT community, being part of our history, would be fabulous! Fantastic! There's no downside to this one. There's some folks in the past that, they can keep 'em. But Lincoln? We want him!

EDGE: Mr. Peterson, the film touches on how Lincoln's supposed sexual inclinations could have made him more sensitive to the plight of Black people in America during a time when slavery was still in effect. Can you say a little about that?

Shaun Peterson: On a historical level, when Joshua Speed moved back to his family's plantation, Lincoln went and visited him. That would have been the first time Lincoln would have witnessed slaves working on a plantation. He spent over a month there, witnessing it, and it was a harsh environment. This was a hemp plantation, so the sticky hemp flower got into the lungs of the slaves, and it was a harsh thing to witness. A lot of scholars who would say that Lincoln's exposure to this really informed his viewpoints on slavery that he was already forming at the time.

In general, Lincoln [demonstrated] open-mindedness throughout his presidency. Frederick Douglass came in and really made the point for abolition, and you see Lincoln bringing his political rivals onto his cabinet. It'd be like Trump bringing Bernie Sanders onto his cabin; [it would be] unheard of today. His empathy proved him to be what I think of as our greatest president, and [that sort of empathy] is something that's really missing from the political landscape today.

EDGE: Can we really apply modern notions of sexuality to historic figures?

John Stauffer: Shaun read deeply. He went back to the 19th century understandings of sexuality. I think part of the brilliance of the film is the long arc that it portrays; it focuses on Lincoln, but highlights the degree to which, in many regards, our understanding of sexuality in the 19th century was much more fluid, much more open, much more, in a sense, egalitarian. The terms bisexuality, homosexuality, heterosexuality weren't invented [in Lincoln's day]. Once those terms become codified, it's a way of creating rigid hierarchies to such a degree [that] it's a prison term if you're found having carnal relations with another man [or] another woman.

Lincoln and Joshua speed [were] intimate; Speed later said that no man, no two men, have ever been more intimate, and that was echoed by Robert Todd Lincoln, his son. Intimacy in the 19th century meant that two men or two women were equal. But intimacy [was] also physical, and that was seen as acceptable.... it was so common in that period, that for two men or for two women to show their love for each other was far more accepted than it would be in the 20th century.

EDGE: It feels like we are at America's most consequential and fraught moment since the 1960s, if not the 1860s.

Tom Balcersky: The stakes are as high as in Lincoln's day. The nation was on the brink of civil war, and within months was fighting the longest, bloodiest, most deadly conflict in American history. Knowing that we had a great leader like Lincoln coming out of nowhere to save American democracy, there's a kind of triumphant narrative – ultimately a bittersweet, very tragic one, given his untimely death and the tragedies of the Civil War. That's what we hope [an understanding of] history does; it helps to uplift and give us hope.

Shaun Peterson: And it's no accident we're injecting Lincoln into the national discussion right before the election, as a reminder of a leader who made tremendous sacrifices to save the nation. Lincoln was open minded and loving and had all these layers. [He] had deep love and caring for others throughout his life, and these experiences informed who he eventually became.

"Lover of Men" premieres in theaters on Sept. 6. Note: The film has partnered with the Human Rights Campaign. Those who purchase tickets to see the film in theaters this weekend via this custom link will directly benefit The Human Rights Campaign.