Lincoln... gay?

That's what C.A. Tripp concluded, in his forthcoming book, The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln (click here for amazon.com info). I read about this in the New York Times today (here). Apparently Lincoln shared his bed with one of his male friends for four years as a young man, and later, whenever his wife was away had the captain of his bodyguards spend the night with him. Critics say, well, back then it was typical for straight men to sleep in the same bed together.

This could be bigger than when Fawn Brody "outed" Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings, back in 1974. Mainstream scholars were horrified at the notion that Jefferson could "debase" himself in such a way. However, given that Hemings was his wife's half-sister, it's a lot more shocking to me that people wouldn't find it reasonable for Jefferson to find her attractive. (The idea of Jefferson having his slave children wait on his guests at dinner, though, sure makes me shudder.)

UO campus in the fog at dusk: