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Sexuality, Counterfactually
Larry Kramer’s The American People, Volume 1: Search for My Heart is not all that interested in the history of sexuality. At first glance this might feel an odd claim to make about a novel that claims, as nearly every review feels obliged to note, that George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, the Marquis de Lafayette, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, Herman Melville, Samuel Clemens, et al. were all gay. An article on the novel in TheGuardian had as a title: “Larry Kramer: ‘How could you not realise Mark Twain was gay?”; the article’s author cautiously notes that “it is not a view accepted by most Twain scholars.”
The history of sexuality concerns itself with, among other things, what counts as sex at alternative places at distinct times, how sexual partners are set up, who engages in what kinds of sex, and so on. It is also concerned with collective representations concerning sexuality: how people represent to themselves collectively and individually what constitutes a sexual act or a sexual persona, how different kinds of meanings grow associated with alternative acts, how people connect acts with identities, if th
Posts Tagged With: Louis Weichmann
I conducted reviews of the seven-part AppleTV+ miniseries Manhunt, named after the Lincoln assassination novel by James L. Swanson and released in 2024. This is my historical review for the seventh episode of the series “The Final Act.” This analysis of some of the evidence vs. fiction in this episode contains spoilers. To browse my other reviews, please visit the Manhunt Reviews page.
Episode 7: The Closing Act
The final episode of the series opens with a flashback to 1862. Edwin Stanton attends a party at the White Home thrown by the Lincolns. The first family is concerned about the destitute health of their son Willie, who will soon expire from typhoid fever. Stanton agrees to take over as Lincoln’s Secretary of War.
We then flash forward to the first day of the trial of the conspirators. Stanton talks with reporters outside before seating himself to view the proceedings. Assess Advocate General Joseph Holt lays out the charges against the conspirators who are seated on a bench in the front of the courtroom. When Holt announces that the government is also charging Jefferson Davis in Lincoln’s assassination, audible
NEW YORK -- When Larry Kramer has something to say, he gets right to the point.
At 79, the HIV and homosexual rights advocate may advance a bit more behind and speak a bit more softly than he did at the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1990s. Nevertheless, he's just as emotional about finding a remedy and fighting for equality, and is still stirring up headlines with his controversial claims -- this time, with his recent book.
In Volume One of his two-part "The American People," Kramer makes bold assertions about some of America's most-revered leaders.
"We understand that Abraham Lincoln was gay," Kramer told CBS News in a recent interview. "Why is that not in the history books? Because all history books are written by straight people, and they don't wanna either acknowledge that, or they wouldn't know how to acknowledge what we call 'gaydar.'"
According to Kramer, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton had intimate affairs with men, John Wilkes Booth had a new motive for killing Lincoln and Jamestown was a bastion of gay sex.
"It's only innate that men would hibernate with each other, when there are no women around for months on end," he explained.
"It's called a 'novel,' but that's just to keep t
Abraham Lincoln
While he may not own been gay, Lincoln did distribute a double bed with an attractive younger man, Joshua Fry Speed, for four years. Certain homosexual writers state outright that Lincoln was bisexual, but there is no actual evidence to this effect other than assumed innuendo and wishful thinking. And the men gave each other advice with regards to their women problems.
Lincoln's eldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, was bad luck for U.S. Presidents, being present at three U.S. Presidential assassinations—Lincoln's, Garfield's and McKinley's. To be technical, Robert was not actually present at the last one, but instead had just arrived in town. Even so, for the good of the country, he avoided principal executives altogether after McKinley.
Lincoln's corpse has led an interesting life. The lead-lined presidential coffin has been moved 17 times, and exhumed and examined no fewer than five times. One attempt was made to rob the body and contain it for ransom, but the police were waiting. To elude future threats of grave robbery, Lincoln was buried in a cage under two tons of concrete. It seem