Lincoln Movie Ignores His Gay Proclivites

[merrily]

56. Was his sexuality (or alleged sexuality) relevant to the plot?

The movie is based upon Doris Kearns' Goodwin's historical account of a certain time period in Lincoln's life, so if she did not cover it in her book, it would not be in the movie.

I don't know about Goodwin, but his co-author, Kushner, is an out gay man and Speilberg is liberal, so I don't think there was any agenda involved in omitting mention of the possibility that Lincoln was gay or bisexual.


IMO, it will be a good day for everyone when mentioning the orientation of a gay person is not expected as a matter of routine. If a movie is about the conflict Lincoln may have suffered because of his sexuality, then sure, his orientation would be relevant. If it's about getting the 13th amendment passed and Lincoln was not fucking Lee, then maybe Lincoln's sexuality is not relevant to the plot?

IMO, it will be a good day when we don't feel compelled to reference the sexuality of every person who is gay or transgendered, anymore than we reference heterosexuality every time we name a person who is heterosexual (as far as we know, anyway).