The filmmakers behind Lover of menthe new documentary that examines whether former President Abraham Lincoln might have been gay, are proud of the film they made, regardless of trolls from conservative pundits.
The feature film by director Shaun Peterson The Lover of Men: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln is currently in theaters. The film draws on interviews with leading Lincoln scholars, as well as staged scenes and access to never-before-seen photographs and letters, to suggest that the revered politician had romantic relationships with men. The film focuses on four men — including his close friend Joshua Speed — with whom Lincoln shared a bed at different times in his life, according to this research.
“I’ve been researching this topic for a very long time, since about 2007,” Peterson says. The Hollywood Reporter. “[There was] “I’ve always had a certain fluidity in the history of humanity, before the words and ideas of ‘homosexual’ and ‘heterosexual’ were invented around 1870. That’s what really captivated me, is this idea that these binaries are very new. They’ve been used against people, whether it’s the psychological community early on or the church, and then to where we are today.”
A view of the Lincoln Memorial.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Producer Robert Rosenheck has been Peterson’s creative partner for 20 years. Although Rosenheck is a lifelong Lincoln fan, he was unaware of the discussions surrounding whether the politician was gay until Peterson brought up his plans for the project, at which point the producer came on board.
“I thought, ‘We need to make a movie that’s not about Abraham Lincoln being gay, but it’s about something bigger,” Rosenheck recalls. “It’s a universal story. So if you’re gay, you see this movie and you feel catharsis when you realize that the greatest American president was gay. But if you’re not gay, it’s a universal story about tolerance and how we view each other.”
Rosenheck is aware that social media users are wondering why a film should focus on apparent speculation about a figure like Lincoln, who was very private about key elements of his private life. Lincoln had been married to Mary Todd Lincoln for more than two decades at the time of his assassination in 1865.
“We’ve had all sorts of reactions to the film,” the producer says. “Surprisingly, we’ve had a lot of people on the left who are skeptical, [and] “People on the right who have seen the film are like, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize this whole story. This is fascinating.’ So it’s really a conversation starter and a mind-opener to see the film.”
The team behind Lover of men I edited the film with the focus on finishing it in time for the November press conference…
