Documentarians about Lincoln’s (Gay) Sexuality Are “Thrilled” by Elon Musk, Ben Shapiro Trolling It
The director and producer of Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln discuss their reasons for examining the former president’s romantic relationships.
Director Shaun Peterson’s Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln is now playing in theaters.
The movie uses interviews with prominent Lincoln scholars, in addition to dramatizations and access to never-before-seen photos and letters, suggesting that the revered politician had romantic relationships with men.
The film focuses on four men, including close friend Joshua Speed, with whom Lincoln shared a bed at separate points in his life, according to this research.
Producer Robert Rosenheck has been a creative partner with Peterson for 20 years. Although Rosenheck is lifelong Lincoln fan, he hadn’t been aware of whether the politician was queer until Peterson mentioned his project.
‘We need to make a movie that is not about Lincoln’s queerness — it’s got to be about something larger,’” Rosenheck says. “It tells a universal story. So if you’re a queer person, you experience a catharsis when you realize that America’s greatest president was queer. But if you’re not queer, the story is universal about tolerance and how we ‘other’ people.”
Social media users have voiced questions regarding why a film should emphasize apparent speculation about someone like Lincoln, who was private about his personal life.
Lincoln had been married to Mary Todd Lincoln for more than two decades at the time of his assassination in 1865.
“We get all kinds of reactions to the film,” the producer says. “Surprisingly, we’ve gotten a lot of people on the left who are skeptical, [and] people on the right who have seen the film and go, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize all that history. That’s fascinating.’ So it’s definitely a conversation starter and a mind-opener to see the film.”
The team focused on getting it finished in time for this November’s presidential election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris
Seeing the project as a rallying cry for Americans to continue to encourage diverse voices and identities, the filmmakers say that conservative pundits, including Elon Musk, Ben Shapiro and Alex Jones, posted negatives remarks about the movie’s concept prior to its release.“I would just invite them — and anybody that has questions — to watch the film, give it a chance, look at the evidence and look at the possible message,” says Peterson. “Just go into the film with open mind because we’re at a time where we need some open minds. We are living history right now, everything that’s going on, and so it’s important to look back at our past in order to inform our future.”
Lover of Men team feelings about right-wing figures trolling the movie?
Rosenheck says: “We’re thrilled when people like Elon Musk notice the film, and the reason they notice the film is because it is compelling. This story is provocative. There are few original stories, few stories with a hook, and this movie has a huge hook.”
