Lincoln Diversity Equality & Inclusion

With the current administration announcement to end minting Lincoln pennies we thought that on Abraham Lincoln’s real birthday we’d share a story about the 16th POTUS who served from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the nation through the last American Civil War which succeeded in preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government & modernizing the U.S. economy. Let’s celebrate Lincoln’s birthday as we re-revisit the interesting theory that Abraham Lincoln might have been our first LGBTQ president referencing Carl Sandburg who alluded to the early relationship of Lincoln & his friend Joshua Fry Speed as having "a streak of lavender & spots soft as May violets" in his 1926 biography. "Streak of lavender" was a term back then that implied homosexuality. The late legendary activist & playwright Larry Kramer back in 1999 claim that he had uncovered previously unknown documents while conducting research for his work-in-progress The American People: A History claiming to be found hidden in the floorboards of the old store once shared by Lincoln & Joshua Speed. In these beyond challenging times just think how that would affect our current administration with its anti-LGBTQ agenda. A while back I talked with author Lee Wind in this exclusive audio interview about his novel “Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill” that actually centers around Wyatt a 15 year old dealing with his sexuality in a homophobic small town who discovers this theory about Abraham Lincoln's relationship with Joshua Fry Speed a Springfield, Illinois merchant who met Lincoln in 1837. Wyatt can't help feel that if the world knew about this relationship perhaps they would treat our LGBTQ community differently. LISTEN